Betraying the Rivalry
by ArmAndLeg
Summary: When two people are actually really similar, how long can they remain enemies? How long will it take before they realize they could be friends, and decide to betray their rivalry?
1. The Horrible News

Arm: Hiya everyone

Arm: Hiya everyone! Here we are, getting our Zim fanfic out in the IZ realm! 

Leg: We warned you all! Once we started reviewing stories, we knew would have to add our own creative genius. This is going to end up as a Zim + Dib fanfic… It's just going to take a while. WE'LL MAKE YOU NON-BELIEVERS BELIEVE IN THAT COUPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Arm: Leg, you're scaring me…. If it looks like we copied off of anyone in anyway, we did not, but we basically had the same ideas as someone else, and we're still going to post this because that's just the way we are. So if you are offended, and want us to take down our first Zim fanfic (God help us! I don't wanna take down my first Zim fic!), we will. 

Leg: Our disclaimer is this: If we owned it, we wouldn't be writing fanfiction, now would we? Oh, and this is going to be a multi-chaptered fic, and we have sub-titles for each part so far, but we don't have an over-all title. (Isn't that sad?) 

Untitled: Chapter One: The Horrible News

Zim stared at his computer, or, more specifically, the email on his computer screen. Zim sighed for about the fiftieth time that night. 

"What's wrong, Master?" Gir asked as he walked into the lab with a candy bar in his hand.

"Nothing, Gir, it's just that I'm a little stressed out," Zim answered, not at all acting like himself.

"Oh," Gir replied, not at all understanding. He placed his candy bar next to Zim. "Here, you can have it," Gir told Zim, and then he walked off to watch the Scary Monkey Show.

Zim stared at the human snack. He contemplated eating it, but thought better of the action. The last time he ate chocolate, he was so hyper that he almost admitted he was an alien to the whole world. (Leg: We are going to write a fic on that incident, just to let you know.)

Zim sighed, and remembered the email. 'How could this happen?' Zim asked himself as he reread the email. 'How come I didn't see this coming? The Almighty Tallest only sent me here to get rid of me? They don't want me around?' 

Zim sighed again and closed out the email he had received from his only friend. He didn't want to believe what Jazz had said, but Jazz was Red and Purple's second in command. The words of the email kept on running their course through Zim's mind. For the first time in his life, Zim was depressed.

The next morning Zim got ready for 'skool,' not really concentrating on putting on his human disguise. His contacts were messed up and his hair was on backwards. His computer stopped him and fixed him up so that he wouldn't have to explain to any human's what was wrong with his appearance.

Zim walked to skool, either not caring that Dib was following him, or he didn't notice him for once. Dib thought that it was strange, for Zim not acknowledge him like that. He watched as Zim continued walking, not even looking up from the sidewalk. Not that he cared that Zim didn't notice him…. Or did he? Dib shook his head and continued in following Zim.

'He looks upset about something…' Dib noted as he caught a glimpse of Zim's facial expression. "Hey, _Zim_," Dib called out. Zim turned to the voice and narrowed his eyes at the inferior human.

"What do you want, _Dib_?" Zim asked, halfheartedly stressing Dib's name. He skillfully hid his depression from Dib; he didn't want a pitiful _human_ worrying about him, and Irken _Invader_. He inwardly blanched at that, he wasn't going to be an Invader much longer if Jazz was right.

"Is something wrong, Zim? What, did you finally realize that you can't take over the world? Did you realize that in another battle of wits between the two of us you would lose?" Dib asked, stepping back into his normal disposition. He watched Zim's facial expression change from slight annoyance to anger.

Zim could only glare at Dib, and balled his hands into fists. Then the image of the email replayed itself in his head. _The Almighty Tallest never wanted you around, Zim. I heard them talking about it last night… They only sent you to Earth in hopes of getting rid of you for good, and pretty soon they're going to tell you to stay on Earth and never come back to Irk. _Zim shook his head, turned his back to Dib, and walked into skool grounds. 

Dib watched this with a blank expression on his face. Zim didn't even throw a single insult back at him. That was so…un-Zim like, to walk away without saying anything like that. Even though he didn't want to, Dib was starting to worry about Zim. 

Zim sat down at his desk and waited for Ms. Bitters to start ranting about how doomed the Earth was. Usually he agreed with her on that note: the Earth _was_ going to be doomed, but today he could care less about it. He began to wonder why he hadn't noticed the fact that the Almighty Tallest didn't want him around.

Dib watched Zim's facial expression get more and more brooding from his seat down the row. 'What could be bothering him so much, so that I can use it against him?' Dib asked himself. He watched Zim place his head on the desk and sighed every few minutes.

Dib just didn't understand it. Nothing ever made Zim act like this before. Zim always got angry, but never upset or depressed. He would always try to analyze his and conquer his problems, not wallow in self-pity. Damnit, why was he worrying about Zim anyway? Zim was his enemy, his rival, and he was trying to invade Earth! Why should he worry about him?

Zim lifted his head off his desk and looked around at the clock. He cursed to himself; there was still five and a half hours of skool left. He was beginning to think that if he faked sick, he could go home. Zim flinched at that thought, and Dib noticed this.

"Zim?" Ms. Bitters asked suddenly.

"Sir!" Zim shouted without thinking as he straightened himself out and sat up.

"Are you just going to sit there all day? Move your desk so we can continue doing work!" Ms. Bitters shouted at him.

Zim tried not to glare at Ms. Bitters as he did as he was told. He wished that skool would somehow end early today. He even thought of calling Gir and having the android bust him out of this miserable building. Zim looked around at the pitiful group of human stink beasts he had to work with, and was disappointed to see that he had to work with Dib.

"Zim? Look, I don't like this team up either, but for once do you think we could…you know, get along?" Dib asked, dying all the while to throw another insult at Zim. 

"Do whatever the hell you want, human," Zim replied. "Just don't talk to me."

Dib looked at Zim in disbelief. "Zim, look, I know you're depressed or upset about something, what is it?" Dib dared to ask.

"It's none of your business," Zim told him angrily. Suddenly Zim's transmitter went off. "Excuse me for a moment," he said as took out the earpiece and placed it to his ear. (Arm: He's just gotta have ears! He's just gotta!) "What is it, Gir?" he asked angrily. 

"Master, the Almighty Tallest want to speak with you," Gir's voice came over the phone like contraption.

"Tell them I'm busy!" Zim nearly shouted into the phone. Dib listened in with interest.

"They want to talk to you now," Gir said in a whiny voice. "It's about the mis-sion!"

Zim sighed. "Okay, put them on the line."

"Who is it, Zim?" Dib asked quietly.

Zim chose to ignore Dib. He waited impatiently to hear Red or Purple's voice. "Hello, Red…No, I can't turn on the screen, I'm in a human facility!… What?!… You can't do that to me! I'm an _Invader_ through and through!… Yes, I understand…. I will go and get my things as soon as I can…. I know I can't return…. Good bye, Sir, and I wish you and the other Invaders luck in Operation: Impending Doom II," Zim said into the contraption, his mood darkening all the while. He turned off the line and began to bang his head on the desk.

Dib stared; it just didn't make sense. Zim looked like as if his dreams had been shattered. He watched Zim take out a laptop and begin to type something with interest. "Zim, may I ask what that was all about?" Dib asked cautiously, knowing that Zim could blow up on him if he wanted to.

"Leave me alone, human scum," Zim muttered as he focused on the computer screen in front of him. Zim wanted to look up from the computer, to see if Dib had that look on his face that meant he was planning something, but he didn't.

"Fine, I will then," Dib stated. Zim continued typing, as if he didn't hear Dib. Suddenly Zim shut his laptop as he finished the email

"Damnit! Why couldn't I see this sooner?!" Zim cursed to himself.

Ms. Bitters hovered angrily over Zim. She shouted something at him, spitting the whole time, and drenching Zim in it.

Zim just stared up at his teacher; he could simply care less about what she was lecturing him on. He was thinking about the fact that he was banished, _again_. Why didn't they just shoot him when they saw him at the convention instead of humiliating him like this? He would have liked that a lot more.

"Zim?" Dib called out. "What did 'Red' have to say?" he dared to ask.

"I _said_ leave me alone," Zim replied slowly. Even though he acted like he was angry, Dib could tell he was highly depressed.

Dib decided to back off and do all the work for his group by himself. He was a child prodigy, after all. That and he figured that Zim would want to think about what had just happened to him, whatever that may have been.

"Dib?" Zim asked suddenly. Dib was so into what he was doing he only looked up at Zim distractedly to show he was paying attention. "You can stop working now, class is over," Zim told him.

Dib blushed lightly as he put down his pencil. He figured he was so into his own thoughts that he didn't hear the bell ring. "So, Zim, do you think that you will be able to work tomorrow, or am I going to have to continue working by myself? I mean, I can do it all if you really aren't up to it, but I would like some help," Dib stated as he gathered his things. He looked up at Zim, how was now wearing a confused expression.

"I think I will be okay by tomorrow," Zim replied. "I just didn't see it coming!" Zim hissed as he punched a desk as he walked past it. "And why do you care so much about it anyway?" Zim asked finally.

Dib caught himself asking the same question. Why was he so concerned about with Zim's problems? Sure, in the beginning he was going to use it against Zim, so he could finally capture him and prove to the whole human race that Zim was an alien. But that didn't seem to be the reason now. Dib just shrugged his shoulders in response to Zim's question.

Zim suddenly said good bye as he headed off in a different direction. Dib found himself waving good bye to his rival. He didn't know why he did, but he secretly hoped that Zim was going to be acting like himself tomorrow. This 'new' Zim was someone he didn't like.

Arm: Ah, end of chapter one. Well? WELL?

Leg: Arm, relax, they will review…hopefully. C'mon people! Tell us what you think! We have got to know! 

Arm: And you're telling _me_ to relax. 


	2. Feelings

Arm: Hiya everyone

Arm: Weeeee'reeee baaaack!

Leg: (_as the readers on fanfiction.net)_ Hooray.

Arm: Shut up. Anyway, here's chapter 2, and we got it up faster than we usually do…. We don't want to waste your time from reading our fic, so we'll explain things at the end, like normal people do.

Leg: You know we don't own Invader ZIM, we wish we did, but we don't.

Untitled: Chapter Two: Feelings 

Zim slammed the front door behind him, trying not to curse at Gir as the poor android walked over and nearly tripped Zim up. Boy, was he pissed. He didn't care if Red and Purple hated his guts; it was the fact they banished him, _again,_ for absolutely no reason at all this time! 

Zim sighed as he sat next to Gir, who was now happily sitting in front of the TV, watching Digimon. Gir had his Brainfreezy in his mouth and just smiled goofily at the TV as he continued watching. Zim watched it with him, knowing that Gir "loved" this show almost as much as the Scary Monkey Show. He watched with interest as two of the characters (who he learned to be Matt and Tai later on) got into a fight. 

Zim almost instantly found the show very fun to watch. Which surprised him because it was a form of _human_ entertainment, and the main stars of the show were human, along with the Digimon. He didn't quite get the plot, but he figured he'd have to watch more episodes to fully comprehend what was going on in the show. Arm: Can you imagine the look on his face when he discovered that the Digidestined were trying to save Earth? Gir was yelling at the two boys who were arguing, telling them that they shouldn't be fighting and that they both needed a hug (from each other, no doubt ^_^). 

The anime took Zim's mind off his troubles for a little while, but once the show ended, Zim began to mope around the house. He began to wonder how he was going to get his things from planet Irk. His disappearance would almost definitely go noticed, since it was a yearlong trip to make going to Irk and back. And did he really want to do the trip with Gir with him the whole time? 

Zim was beginning to toss the idea of not even going back to Irk around in his mind. He did have nearly everything he would ever need right there in his home base. He could get help from Jazz as well, if he really wanted to bother his friend like that. He already fit in pretty well, and all he really had to do was to keep his true identity a secret. Zim knew that it would take him even more time to get used to Earth, but he knew that Gir probably didn't want to leave this planet anyway. 

Zim asked himself if he should talk to Dib about all this. After all, he was concerned about it, surprisingly. Zim always wondered about that filthy human scum, and he never understood why. Dib was his enemy, his rival, but he did not understand why he filled is mind so much. 

"Why is Dib so concerned with my problems anyway?" Zim asked himself as he strode to the toilet entrance to his lab. "I believe that he hates me. Why would he be concerned anyway? Shouldn't he be happy that I will no longer be a threat to the human race?" Zim sighed. He would never understand humans, especially Dib.

Invader Jazz read the email that Zim had sent him. He felt really sorry for his friend, being an Invader was Zim's dream, and the Almighty Tallest had shot him down in his prime (if you want to call it that). Zim had asked him where he had gone wrong, what he did that could have caused him to be banished for a second time. Jazz did not know either, at least, besides the fact that the Almighty Tallest disliked Zim because he was so short and what he had done to deserve banishment the first time.

Jazz knew that Zim would be fine, in time, and that he would get along on Earth. That human that he kept talking about (Dip or Dob, something like that) seemed to be Zim's newest obsession--and hope to survive on Earth. There wasn't an email that Zim had sent him from his home base on Earth that hadn't mentioned the boy. And by the way Zim talked about him, Zim could get along with the human, but they didn't for some reason. 

Jazz sighed as he continued writing his response to Zim. Zim never knew the things that Jazz understood about him. If there was anyone who knew more about Zim than Zim himself, it was Jazz. He stopped typing as Red sent him an order. Jazz rolled his eyes; those two were always "busy", but busy in a sense that he didn't want to think about right now. Jazz saved the unfinished email and did as he was told.

Dib looked up at the starry sky, almost expecting to see Zim's ship go flying through the air as he's seen it do many a time before. It had gotten dark a few hours ago, and he always took breaks from his research to look up at the sky, to study the stars. It helped him think, and to let his mind wander for a little while.

Tonight he was worried about how Zim was doing with that problem of his. He just couldn't forget that look of betrayal and hurt Zim wore when he talked to that guy he called "Red." But it was almost like Zim was waiting for it to happen, even though he didn't want it to. It was almost like he was in denial, and when it finally happened (whatever "it" was), it was like a slap in the face for Zim. 

  
Dib shook his head. Those were Zim's problems, and if he didn't want help, that was his decision. Why should he care about how Zim handled his problems in the first place? This was _Zim_ he was talking about, and Zim never accepted help, or at least so it seemed. 

Sighing, Dib went back to his biggest project to date. It was an invention he was going to use to capture Zim once and for all, but now he couldn't complete it. The reason why was because Zim looked as if he wouldn't be posing a threat to the human race anymore. There was no use to try and stop Zim if he wasn't going to do anything in the first place. Dib knew he was going to miss the Zim that was bent on making everyone on Earth his slave.

Dib nearly smacked himself at that thought. Why would he miss _that_ side to Zim? Sure, he was going to miss chasing Zim all over the place, that was pretty fun when he really got down to it. Zim always looked pretty adorable when he was in his mercy, and it always shocked and intrigued him whenever Zim got the better of him. Zim was the challenge of his life, the thing that kept Dib up at night, planning and analyzing everything he could do to get the better of Zim the next day.

To most people it looked like Dib hated Zim, but Dib knew that wasn't the case, deep down. Dib knew that he liked Zim, maybe even more than a friend should, but it was Zim's ambition to take over the world that caused him to become Zim's rival. (That, and Zim also proved himself a very worthy competitor, and Dib always loved a good competition.) Dib didn't want his planet taken over by some alien race, so he got in Zim's way whenever he got the chance. Like I had said before, Dib also enjoyed whenever he got to case Zim around the city. By now, Dib believed the insults he threw at Zim were just a way to grab the Zim's attention. 

Dib had tried fighting the truth for a while now, but tonight the truth was too stubborn, and Dib couldn't fight it anymore. Dib had fallen, _hard_, for his rival, no matter how much he hated to admit it. He had no idea _why_ he felt that way about Zim of all people (or should he say 'out of all aliens'?), he just did. He always knew that his rivalry with Zim was going to be trouble, and now he knew why. 

Dib closed his window and began to dismantle his unfinished project. He knew he was never going to finish it now. Dib sighed; it was getting late, so he decided to call it a night. He hoped that Zim would be like himself tomorrow. Dib couldn't stand the thought of having Zim act like he did earlier that day.

-----------------------------------

Zim continued working diligently on his files on humans. He had no idea why; they were no use to him now that he was banished. Maybe he thought it would help him fit in better on Earth, since he decided to stay there on that miserable planet. It was better than Irk, most of the time. 

Zim's fingers suddenly stopped working the keys. He had stumbled across his files on Dib, all the research he had done on the human boy. Zim was compelled to look through them all. He sighed. Why was he always so interested in that human anyway?

Zim never understood his feelings for Dib. He knew they were rivals, and he loved it when he out smarted to boy. But there was something else, some kind of a…attraction…for Dib that even he, an ex-member of the Irken Empire, couldn't understand. Dib made his life on Earth exciting, and he somehow couldn't imagine what Earth would have been like without Dib trying to foil his plans every day. Zim probably would've had all the humans on Earth as his slaves right now, if it weren't for Dib.

Zim shook his head, like getting everyone his slave in less than a month would have been fun. His job would have been too easy that way, but now he didn't have to take over the world, and he almost felt…glad, at that. Maybe now he could focus on getting friends. That reminded him of Jazz, how he had said that he and Dib probably would have gotten along if the two weren't so competitive with one another. He tried not to smile at that thought, even if he and Dib were to become friends, it would be in a long shot from now. 

Zim suddenly cursed to himself in Irken. He can't even sit there and think of his only friend without Dib entering his thoughts. He remembered an email Jazz had sent him, it had asked "_Zim, it's your first week on Earth and already you fell for someone?_" Zim, at the time, had been appalled at that. How dare Jazz even think that was the case?! But Zim had been fighting the truth for almost as long as Dib had, and now he was afraid that Jazz was right. He wouldn't say that he _loved_ Dib, at least, he sure hoped not. The two rarely got along since his arrival on Earth. But he knew that he had feelings for the human other than friendship, no matter how much it pained him to admit that.

Zim yawned as he finally moved away from his computer. It had been a long day, and he decided it was time to get some sleep. Besides, he was going to have to be awake enough to come up with plans to get back at Red and Purple. Those two dared to make a fool out of Zim, and now they were going to have to suffer the consequences. Nobody dared to make a fool of Zim and got away with it, Dib had proven that.

Zim woke up that morning, and nearly forgot about what had been said and done the day before. He was his normal self for about twenty seconds, but then everything came back to him in a rush. Zim glared at the ground as the conversation he had had with Red came back to him, and he hoped that Gir would act semi-sane today. 

Zim walked to his computer to check his email like he did every morning. Jazz had sent him an email, along with someone else. He read Jazz's email and shook his head. Jazz had offered to bring Zim his things from Irk so that Zim didn't have to leave Earth. Zim sighed as he replied Jazz and told him to do as he pleased. He looked at the email address of the other email, and nearly deleted the email. It was from Dib, but he didn't delete it, just kept it as new email. How Dib got his email was always a mystery to him, but he figured that only people as intelligent as Dib would find a way to figure it out.

Zim got out of his lab and started getting ready for skool. He was still going to go, there was no point in getting the humans to worry about him. As he ate his breakfast he hoped that everything would go his way. 

Arm: That's it. End of chapter two. We want to thank all of you who gave us your wonderful reviews! We never got any reviews stating that you enjoyed the way we wrote before…. We found it very flattering. I just hope that we somehow realistically pulled off the feelings that Dib and Zim could possibly have for one another.

Leg: Yeah. We're more focused on getting them to like each other and end up being friends instead of getting them to be romantically involved with one another. Think of it this way: In the Gundam Wing realm, +'s mean really, really good friends who love each other, and tell one another, x's mean they're romantically in a relationship. Does it all kind of make sense? 

Arm: I wouldn't know. All right, we're done talking your ears off. Now go review, if you want to.


	3. Friends?

Arm: Hiya everyone

Arm: Well, here's part 3. Leg and I have developed a slight problem with our two personalities.

Leg: You may not be familiar with them. Their names are Hip and Sam. They decided to review our story last night because they felt like getting on our nerves…and to make us look like idiots. 

Arm: I swear, I'm just going to hand them the unrevised version of our fanfics (the parts that are written in a notebook, not on the computer) so that they won't review us again…. Enough of our ramblings, let's get on with part 3! Notes and disclaimers are at the end.

Betraying the Rivalry: Chapter 3: Friends? 

Dib walked out of his house with Gaz, who was focused on her GameSlave. Dib seriously believed it was the other way around, the game wasn't _your_ slave, you were the _game's_ slave. He was doing a study on it before Zim had arrived on Earth. Dib had been doing a lot of studies before Zim's arrival, but he had stopped working on them completely since the alien had arrived.

"Don't even _speak,_ Dib, I'm on a very important level right now, and if I so much as lose any points, I'll make you miserable for the rest of your pathetic life," Gaz threatened. Dib just rolled his eyes. 

"Whatever, Gaz," Dib whispered to himself.

Gaz stared at the game intensely. Within those two seconds in which Dib had spoken those two words, she had lost a tremendous amount of points. She began to think of ways to make her brother miserable as she worked on getting back those points. She suddenly died (for the first time in a two days) as Dib "accidentally" bumped into her as he walked around her. "You do know I'll have to kill you now!" Gaz shouted at her brother's back.

Dib ignored this, Gaz said that every damn time he messed her up, but did she live out any of her death threats? No, so he didn't worry about it at all. He wanted to get to the skool faster so he could see if Zim was going to be there today. He even considered walking up to Zim's house to see if he was going to skool, but thought against it. Zim would probably attack him before he could explain why he was there because of what he had done the last time he went to Zim's house.

Once Dib made it to the skool, he looked around the playground for any sign of Zim. He couldn't spot a thing that might have been related to the alien. Dib looked at his watch, he was on time, so that either meant that Zim wasn't coming at all, or he was late. Which was another thing that was un-like Zim, Zim just was never late for skool. Dib decided not to wait for Zim, since he didn't know if he was going to come to skool at all today.

Zim was about to kill Gir. Gir decided to ask Zim billions of questions just as he was about to walk out of the door, and made Zim answer every single on of them. He even began to sing that blasted Doom Song as he opened the door, and even wanted Zim to join in with him.

"I _can't_, Gir, I'm gong to be late for skool!" Zim shouted agitatedly as he got ready to slam the door in Gir's face.

"Aw, someone needs a nice, big hug before they go!" Gir shouted happily at his master. Zim just slammed the door behind him and tried to ignore the sad sniffling behind the door. He walked to skool, nearly cursing at everything that crossed his path.

Zim hated being late, it was just the way he was. And Gir was no help, sitting outside without wearing his dog costume like that! Did Gir have any comprehension as to what could have happened? Zim shook his head. Of course Gir didn't, Gir didn't have a single _intelligent_ thought in his head.

Zim nearly ran into Gaz in his hurry to skool. He apologized quickly as he continued on without much thought, his cursing spree now over. Gaz was nearly successful in grabbing his shirt so that she could beat the crap out of him. Zim had just cost her the best game she ever had! She whispered a death threat to him as she started a new game.

Zim stopped speed walking as he made it to the front steps of the skool. He made it on time, and he made sure that everything was in order (like his hair, for one) before walking into the building. He waited for Dib to pop out of somewhere and start ranting about his true identity as he walked down the hall. Nothing, not a trace of Dib anywhere. Zim wondered where that pitiful human could be, it was unlike Dib to go straight to class, but then again, he was late.

Zim walked into the sixth grade classroom and saw Dib working on something. Dib didn't even look up from what he was doing as Zim walked in. Zim walked up to Dib's desk, and made sure that Ms. Bitters wasn't in the classroom before he spoke. "What, did you finally give up on chasing me around everywhere of something?

Dib looked up at Zim, not at all looking surprised that Zim had asked him that. "No, I just decided to take a break and work on projects I've neglected," Dib replied tonelessly. He almost sounded as if he could care less, even though that wasn't the case. He was waiting to see if Zim was coming to skool, and seeing Zim in front of him had answered his question, so now he could get to work on something important to him.

"Did you send me an email this morning?" Zim inquired suddenly. 

Dib was surprised at that. "Yeah, I did, what's it to ya? You probably didn't even read it before you deleted it," Dib stated as he continued working.

Zim stared down at Dib, trying to figure out why Dib was acting so strange. Dib almost sounded as if he was upset at the fact that Zim might have deleted that email. 

Dib finally looked up at Zim. "What? Go sit down in your seat before Ms. Bitters comes in here and lectures us for talking," Dib ordered distractedly, not expecting Zim to actually listen to him and do as he was told.

"Fine, but all I was trying to do was talk to you," Zim whispered to himself as he walked to his desk. Dib lifted his head and looked over at Zim's retreating back. Did he actually hear those words come out of _Zim's_ mouth? Dib shook his head as he continued working.

Zim was simply acting strange that morning. He acted like a…there's no other way to say this, he was acting like a normal human boy in skool. It wasn't as unnerving as the behavior he displayed yesterday, but it still freaked Dib out a bit.

Zim was thinking about Dib. Dib's behavior around him had changed drastically since yesterday. Was it simply because he was being nice to Zim out of pity? Or was it because he understood he wasn't going to try and take over the human race now that he was banished from Operation: Impending Doom II?

Zim sighed. Dib was just a huge puzzle that he was only beginning to understand how to solve. All those weeks at being at each other's throats and he thought he knew all he was ever going to know about Dib. Humans were just so complicated to understand, and Dib had to be the most complex.

Dib waited for the lunch bell to ring anxiously. He figured he should try to figure out what had happened to Zim yesterday, not that it seemed that Zim wanted to talk about it. At lunch Zim ate by himself, like he usually did. Dib wanted to try getting along with Zim, so he sat down at Zim's table, instead of next to Gaz. Besides, he could never be too sure if Gaz would live out her death threats or not. 

Zim didn't acknowledge Dib's existence for a while. He was too concentrated on thinking through his plans to get back at Red and Purple. Some of the plans were really promising, but it looked like he was going to need some help, no matter how small it may be. Zim then looked up from his tray (which was still full of food), sensing that he wasn't alone at the table.

"Oh, Dib, I didn't notice you were there," Zim stated.

"I could tell, you seemed deep in though. Are you thinking about how you can get back at that guy you talked to over that phone-like thing yesterday?" Dib asked.

"Yes," Zim answered slowly. "Nobody makes a fool of Zim and gets away with it!" 

Dib smiled somewhat, he knew that was coming. "What was that guy's name again anyway?" Dib asked. 

"It's two guys, actually. The Almighty Tallest, to the Invaders. But since I'm no longer an Invader, I can't even call them that anymore," Zim said, his mood darkening somewhat. 

"The 'Almighty Tallest,' huh? They sound like big-shots who only got where they were because they could intimidate the shorter people," Dib stated.

"That's very true, actually. My only friend, Jazz, is their second in command, and he's taller than everyone else on Irk-"

"Irk?" Dib asked, confused. 

"My home planet," Zim admitted cautiously, waiting for Dib to start one of those "He just admitted he's an alien!" rants.

"Oh," was all that Dib said though.

"And anyway, he's taller than anyone else on Irk, but the Tallest of course. He told me that the Tallest were going to banish me for no reason at all this time. That they were going to tell me to stay here on Earth-"

"Wait a minute, 'this time'? What, were you banished before or something?" Dib asked.

"Yeah, I was, actually. The first time they banished me because I got a little too excited when I found out I was going to be a part of Operation: Impending Doom I, and I basically destroyed my planet in my excitement," Zim admitted, trying not to blush at the memory. "I 'quit' banishment when I heard of Impending Doom II. I wanted another chance at being an Invader, to prove to Red and Purple that I could be an Invader."

"Let me guess, Red and Purple are the Almighty Tallest?" Dib asked. Zim just nodded. "And they sent you here to Earth to humor you, and Jazz told all about that. And when they talked to you yesterday during skool, they…"

"Told me to stay on Earth," Zim finished the sentence for Dib. 

"So they banished you again, but you already knew about it from Jazz, but you didn't believe it when Jazz told you. That explains why you were all depressed yesterday," Dib rambled off.

"Yes, that's exactly right. And that's why I have to get back at them. They humiliated me in front off all the Irken Empire when they sent me here to Earth…. No offense to your planet, though," Zim said quickly as he got up from the table to throw out his lunch. "Oh, and Dib?" Zim asked.

Dib was behind him, with his trash from his lunch. "Yeah, Zim?"

Zim searched for the right words. "Thank you…for being understanding and not trying to use what I told you against me. You are going to keep what I told you to yourself, right?" Zim asked, narrowing his eyes at Dib.

Dib tried not to laugh. "Of course, Zim. And you're welcome," Dib replied. "Friends?" Dib asked, putting out his hand for Zim to shake it.

Zim glanced at Dib's hand. He thought about it for a few seconds, and then he looked at Dib's face. He assumed that Dib wasn't going to try anything, so he placed his hand in Dib's. "Friends," Zim replied as they shook on it.

"So, Zim, need help coming up with plans to get back at Red and Purple?" Dib asked.

"I have a few good plans, but if you want to help, then you can help. There are a few that look promising," Zim told him.

The two sat down at the lunch table, and began to compare and look over the plans they started to come up with. They never knew they had so much in common. 

Arm: Yep. End of chapter 3. I hope we didn't rush them into being friends. And as for ages, we think that Zim and Dib are in sixth grade because they act too much like sixth graders. Plus Gaz just has to be a fourth grader (she acts a lot like us when we were in the fourth grade.) Oh, and you all should know we don't own it. (Jhonen would probably kill us for this, so we know we don't have a chance to convince him to give IZ to us…^_^;)

Leg: We'll see you around. We should have chapter four out by the 20th, but we're not sure on it because we can get writer's block pretty soon. Please review on your way out?


	4. The Plan

Arm: Hiya everyone

Arm: :yawns: I don't know how we managed to wake up at 6 in the morning to type this, but we did.

Leg: Oh, shut it. You know it's because we're worried about our dogs Simon and Merlin. :punches a pillow nearby: Damnit! Why did Merlin have to chew through his leash and get away? And why does Simon have to follow him once Merlin's instincts tell him to run? 

Arm: We'll never know. But we can type up chapter four to our fic so we don't keep the people waiting…

Leg: Good idea. 

Betraying the Rivalry: Chapter Four: The Plan

Zim walked home from skool, whistling a tune. Today in skool went better than he had planned, if you don't include the part when Ms. Bitters yelled him at again. He somehow managed to become his rival's friend, and along with that he had someone who would help him with his plans to get back at Red and Purple. Yep, today somehow managed to become one of the better days of his life.

"Hello, Gir," Zim greeted the android happily. He forgot all about what Gir had done this morning.

"Hello!" Gir said back. He hugged Zim before going back to the couch so he could watch TV. Zim even hugged him back, surprisingly. Boy, Zim was never this happy in his whole life.

Zim followed Gir to the couch and placed down his things on the floor. He wasn't at all feeling bad about being banished. Zim couldn't remember a time when he seriously felt this good. Maybe when he first became an Invader was close, but he definitely wasn't happier then than he was now. He watched Digimon with Gir (it was somehow becoming his favorite thing to watch), and simply relaxed. 

Dib was at his computer, trying to figure out how the hell everything had happened. Yesterday Zim was depressed because he was banished (for a second time), and today he opened up to _him_, his rival? 

Dib shook his head. He had no idea Zim was working for jerks. Red and Purple probably disliked anyone that was shorter than them, and if he had been reading between the lines correctly, Zim had to be the shortest of his kind. He wanted to get back at the two for being mean and unfair to Zim almost as much as Zim did.

That was another thing. What went over him and Zim that caused them to become friends? Zim probably wanted to end the rivalry because he knew Dib could help him in his plans to get back at the "Almighty" Tallest. But it was he who went out and asked Zim if they could be friends, not Zim. He noticed that they still remained competitive with one another. 

Dib got off his computer. He needed to see if his dad would let him leave the house. Normally his dad wanted to keep his kids in the house because if something were to happen while he was experimenting. 

"Dad?" Dib called out, waiting to hear his dad say he to be quiet because he was making something.

"What is it, son?" Professor Membrane asked, looking up from his (children's) chemical set.

"Can I go over a friend's house?" Dib asked, carefully dodging the tiny explosions going off around him.

"Sure, son. Now hurry along, I'm a bit bus—" Professor Membrane was cut off as the mixture in front of him blew up in his face.

Dib rolled his eyes. Sometimes he wondered how his father became a Professor (none the less a scientist) in the first place. "Thanks dad," Dib said as he walked out of his father's lab, lightly shutting the door to it behind him. He knew he could set off another round of explosions if he were to make a loud noise.

Zim strode over to his toilet, just as the doorbell rang. Zim hoped it wasn't another sales person. "Gir! Can you get that? And put your dog costume on!" Zim shouted from the kitchen.

" 'Kay!" Gir shouted back at him. He got off the couch, holding onto his Brainfreezy, and opened the door. "Hello. Wanna come in?" Gir asked the person on the other side of the door.

"Um, hi, is Zim here?" Dib asked Gir. He figured it to be Gir because he knew dogs don't talk.

"ZIM! It's for you-oo!" Gir shouted towards the toilet.

Zim wondered who in the world could it be. Who on this pitiful planet would want to visit him? Duh, Dib! "Give me a moment, Gir!" Zim shouted from his lab. He put his human disguise on as quickly as he could as he exited the lab.

Dib was lead into the house by Gir, who began talking the poor boy's ear off. Dib patted Gir's head without thinking. The costume fell off of Gir's body, because Gir forgot to zip it up.

Zim walked over to Gir and fixed the disguise for the android. "He forgets to zipper himself up a lot… I'd give him a different costume, but he likes this one so much," Zim explained to Dib.

"Oh…." Dib looked over at Zim and nearly laughed. Gir was laughing at Zim already,

Zim narrowed his eyes at the two of them. "What?" he asked both of them, putting his hand on his hips.

Dib stifled another laugh. He liked it when Zim looked confused. "Just look at yourself in a mirror," he managed to say finally.

"Don't tell me, my hair's messed up, isn't it?" Zim asked them. The two of them only managed to nod. Zim took off his wig and tried putting it back on the right way. Zim hoped he got it right this time and looked at Dib and Gir to see their reactions. 

"You know what, Zim, why don't you just take the disguise off? You know I know you're an alien," Dib told him. 

Zim looked at him and wondered if he should take off his disguise. He decided to take it off. Besides, Dib proved to him already that he wouldn't say anything to the government about him. Gir took that time to walk back to the couch and start flipping through channels.

"Hey! It's the Scary Monkey Show!" Gir stated excitedly.

"Does Gir always act that…simple?" Dib asked finally. He ignored the feeling he got when he saw Zim without his human attire. 

"Gir's more than simple. He can be smart and serious whenever he wants, though," Zim answered. "But, 99% of the time he acts like this," Zim said before heading into the kitchen.

  
Dib followed Zim without thinking. "Oh. He seems pretty cool though," Dib stated.

"Yeah, he can be…when he isn't annoying the _hell_ out of me," Zim said with a small smile. "So, Dib, what brings you here?" Zim asked finally. 

Dib looked around the kitchen and saw the toilet. He tried to ignore that. "Just wanted to get away from my house. It's always so boring there," Dib explained. "Zim, why is there a toilet in your kitchen?" 

"I don't know. The computer put it there, but it's an entrance to my lab," Zim answered as he sat down at the table. He motioned Dib to follow. "The other is in the trash can," Zim continued. "I've been thinking about those plans, and there' one that really sounds promising. Thing is, we need to get everyone on Irk to see it happen," Zim said right out.

"Really?" Dib asked, very interested. 

"Yes. You see, the Almighty Tallest are more than friends," Zim said with a sly grin. 

"Oh, sorta like Gaz and that damn GameSlave of her's?" Dib asked. He was making a bad joke, and he knew it. Zim just went along with what Dib had said. 

Zim just continued and ignored Dib's statement. "But, here's the thing, most people on Irk _don't_ know that Red and Purple are romantically involved.

Dib got the basic idea of the plan. "I get it. Basically, you want to catch them doing something that would mortify them for life if anyone found out about it," Dib said.

"Yes, exactly. Another problem is the fact that the ship Red and Purple are on is very far away from Earth. It could take weeks or months to arrive on it. I'd send Gir to get pictures or a video tape recording, but I don't know if I can trust him to do the job," Zim told him.

"I understand why…. Can't you upgrade his programs or something?" Dib asked.

"I tried upgrading him, but he just seems to become even more independent and stupider," Zim explained.

"I see…. Maybe we can get that Jazz character to get a video recording for you?" Dib suggested.

Zim shook his head. "I don't want him to get in trouble. The Almighty Tallest will banish him if they found out he was involved in our plan, and I don't want him to go out of his way," Zim explained.

Dib smiled at that. Zim didn't want to see his friend get hurt. "I completely understand, you don't want him to go through with that," Dib said finally.

"Though, we can create an android much like Gir to take pictured of the Almighty Tallest for us. We can get Jazz to take it up to the ship they're on, he is going to be here in about 2 months to bring me my things. They'd never be able to pinpoint him for it, and he would never get in trouble that way," Zim explained.

"I like the way you think, Zim," Dib complimented. Zim blushed lightly at that, he just wasn't used to compliments.

It was decided. Zim and Dib would work on the android idea, but they decided they should start working on it the next day, since Dib had to go home. On his way home, Dib hoped that whatever he had gotten himself into wouldn't cost him later on.

Arm: We got it out on our promised date! Yeah!

Leg: Part five won't be up by Friday, we're going to be going to Downey Park, if it doesn't rain. So it should be out on Saturday at the earliest. K? Bai bai!


	5. Confused

Arm: Hiya everyone

Arm: Look, you all know we don't own Invader ZIM. Now, let me warn you all about this chapter. It's another one of our heaving thinking, barely any conversation chapters.

Leg: If you are confused as to what she is saying, this chapter is a whole lot like chapter 2. Oh, and for those of you who are wondering, we found our puppies!

Betraying the Rivalry: Chapter 5: Confused

Dib was up in his room, seeing which parts to his unfinished inventions he could use to help create the android he and Zim were going to build. He asked himself every few seconds what was making him do this. He was still confused as to how he and Zim suddenly started getting along. One day he and Zim were mortal enemies, the next they were friends, now don't tell me you wouldn't be lost as to how that happened too.

Dib tried not to dwell on it too much; he had to get some work done on a lot of his unfinished projects. He even threw some of his once very important studies, something he never did before. He believed that all projects were important, no matter how unimportant they seemed to become later on.

"Hey, Dib, can you do my homework for me? I'm on a very high level, and I don't think I'll finish the game in time to do my homework," Gaz said as she walked by Dib's room. She almost walked into a wall as she continued playing the game.

Dib wasn't really paying attention to Gaz as he worked, but he nodded his head distractedly. He usually did Gaz's homework anyway, so he would know what she had asked him to do in the morning. Dib decided that he should take a break, he had been dismantling things since the moment he got back home from Zim's. And that was over two hours ago.

Dib put down his wrench and stretched. Stargazing wasn't such a bad idea right now. It would help him think things out, and get his emotions somewhat understandable. He was so confused about what was going on between him and Zim, and the harder he tried not to think about it, the harder it was for him to get it to go away.

At his home base, Zim was wondering about the same thing. How did he and Dib start getting along? Zim knew that Dib just wasn't being nice to him because he was banished. If that were the case, Dib wouldn't have been so eager to help him get back at Red and Purple. Dib wouldn't want much to do with Zim, for that matter.

No, Zim knew that there had to be some other reason. Dib wouldn't help someone out of pity for them either, that was out of character. Dib didn't seem like the kind of person who would pretend to be someone's friend and then back stab them once they got the chance either. At least, Zim sure hoped he wasn't. That would be a major set back on his plans to get back at the Almighty Tallest.

Dib began to wonder why Zim suddenly didn't want to be his enemy any more. They were born rivals, it seemed, and becoming friends only seemed to be betraying their rivalry. What had caused the sudden change between them? Dib thought that it was because Zim was feeling…alone, for the first time, and he didn't want Zim to feel like that.

Dib sighed at that. He knew what it felt like to feel alone. Maybe that's why he gave up his rivalry with the alien. He didn't want someone other than himself to feel alone. But now he realized that he was never truly alone since Zim arrived on Earth. Zim was someone who at least tried to get to know a side of him. Unlike his own family.

That made Dib wonder if Zim had a family on Irk. If Zim didn't, then that meant the only person who ever cared enough about Zim to just be his friend was Jazz. Dib thought that no one should live without a family, to grow up not knowing someone loved you without thinking about having to love you, they just did. And having only one friend must have been pretty hard as well. But then again, he wouldn't truly know that because Zim was the first true friend he ever had, and so far it wasn't so bad, only having a friend.

Zim exited his lab, he needed to go outside and take a break himself. He looked up at the sky, the clouds starting to cover the stars. Stargazing was something he never seemed to have time for. On Irk it was his favorite thing to do besides being an Invader. It was possibly the only way he knew how to unwind and relax, and it made it easier for him to think.

Zim was just so confused. He still was lost as to how come he and Dib suddenly started getting along. Maybe it was because they both felt that they didn't need to be threatened by the other anymore. After all, Dib wouldn't do anything to him since he wasn't going to do anything to the Earth anymore. But if that was the case, then why didn't they just leave each other alone and decided to have nothing to do with one another?

Zim sighed. He would have hated that, if he and Dib were to completely ignore each other. He would be almost completely alone on Earth if Dib didn't pay attention to him at all. He said "almost" because Gir would always be there, but Gir could only provide so much for friendship. Maybe that's why he didn't mind it so much when he and Dib started getting along. He could finally have a friend, another friend.

Friends. Friends were the one thing Zim never seemed to have. Sure, he had _a_ friend, and he always had the kind of friends that left you all along in your time of need. Jazz was really the only true friend he ever had, besides Dib. And that brought him to wondering if Dib was the type of guy who would leave him when he really needed Dib. Zim sure hoped he wasn't.

Dib was thinking the same thing, and he hoped that Zim wouldn't leave _him_ when he needed him. Zim would be the first true friend Dib ever had. Dib, too, had had his share of so-called "friends." You know, the kind that used you to get what they wanted, and once they got it they left you high and dry. Dib wasn't sure if he would be able to handle someone like that, but he knew that Zim valued their friendship. Dib was glad that he finally found someone who would put up with his ideas on the paranormal, since Zim _was_ the paranormal.

Then, there were those…other…emotions Dib had that he didn't want to admit he had. Dib stopped fighting the truth last night. He really liked Zim, but he had to know _why._ First of all he knew that Zim was a guy. Dib, up until this point, thought he was… He couldn't even bring himself to say it. He hated using those words with a passion. Whenever someone used them he would inwardly flinch. Dib just figured that you are the way you are and that you shouldn't have a term for it.

Though, he smiled cynically to himself, it would explain why he was never really interested in the girls of his class. But then again, he never really liked the guys either. He was only exposed to a short group of people anyway, and then Zim arrived, and he felt different about him. Of course, he began to rant on how Zim was an alien after that, squishing the feeling down in the process.

His feelings would always come back to haunt him, he learned after that. After chasing Zim for the first time, he had become obsessed with proving to the world that Zim was alien. Though Dib knew he was only using that as an excuse to find out more about Zim.

Zim wondered about his own feelings for Dib. On Irk, there was no real name for those kinds of emotions; you simply felt the way you felt. But it was knowing if you felt _love_ for someone that he was confused with. And on Earth, love was even harder to understand because they seemed to have rules for it. On Irk, you were allowed to love anyone you wanted (mostly because there was only one gender on Irk), but on Earth, it seemed it had to be between a boy and a girl. 

He did want to ask Dib about it, but he was afraid that Dib would think he was stupid. And what if Dib didn't understand it as well? Then that would make him feel worse. He didn't want Dib to feel stupid.

"Master, what are you doing?" Gir asked him. "It's getting late," Gir stated.

"I was just thinking, Gir," Zim answered as he looked over at Gir.

"About Dib?" Gir asked innocently.

Zim glanced at the android again. "No, of course not," Zim lied. Why did he lie? It's not like Gir would make fun of him if he told him the truth.

"Yes you were!" Gir said in an ultra happy voice. "I can tell 'cause you blushed!" Gir shouted in absolute glee. "Zim and Dib, sittin' in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-" Gir began to sing, but stopped when he forgot most of the words.

"Gir! How dare you even say that about Dib and I? It's totally not true!" Zim said, appalled. 

"Yes it is!" Gir stated. Zim began to chase the little android after that, and Gir just giggled the whole time.

Dib sighed as he turned out his light. He was never going to understand this whole mess. At least now he didn't have to chase Zim around to find out about him. He looked outside and saw someone chasing someone else around. The person doing the chasing yelled something, and the person sounded like Zim. But why would Zim be outside chasing anyone right now? Dib shook his head and deducted the chase being something out of his imagination.

Arm: All right, the whole thing about everyone being one gender on Irk, is what we believe. You don't have to agree with us, but it just seems that way to Leg and I.

Leg: Other than that, we hoped you enjoyed it! Bai bai! 


	6. Shooting Stars and Wishes

Arm: Hiya everyone

Arm: Chapter six! Yeah! Okay, the romance, for those of you who are getting impatient for it, it isn't until much, much, much, _much_ later into the fic….

Leg: Ignore the chapter title…Arm thought of it, and you may think this chapter is full of the fuzzies…. Well, I don't want to stop your thoughts, but…

Arm: Shut up Leg. Go ahead and read folks!

Betraying the Rivalry: Chapter 6: Shooting Stars and Wishes

It's now about a month later, and Zim and Dib were halfway through their Pictorial Information Retrieval Unit, or Pir, as Dib liked to call it. They could have been finished on it, if it weren't for Gir, who seemed to destroy something that was very hard to replace.

Dib thought it was funny to watch Zim chase Gir around his lab. However, there were times when he had to get in Zim's way so that he wouldn't kill the poor robot. Dib never knew that Zim could get so angry so fast over any tiny little thing Gir did.

It was another one of those days when Gir would get in their way incessantly.   
  
"Gir, go outside an do something!" Zim shouted at the android. Gir had just destroyed some of the very important files he kept on the progress of Pir.

"Aw, why?" Gir asked before he started running around the lab.

Dib tried not to laugh at the android. Running seemed to be Gir's favorite thing to do, besides dancing at nightclubs. They only found out about that because Gir tried to drag them to one.

"Zim, just let him run, we can hide Pir and work on him tomorrow," Dib said.

"But Jazz is going to be here in a few weeks! He might arrive before we're done," Zim protested. 

"When was the last time he sent you an email?" Dib asked, pulling the wrench out of Zim's hands as he tried to move his friend away from Pir.

"This morning!" Zim answered. "And he said he was half way here, and at the rate that Gir's been destroying Pir, we probably won't get done by the time Jazz gets here," Zim added.

"Zim, you worry way too much. Gir won't destroy Pir anymore, right Gir?" Dib asked as Gir stopped running.

"Yes, Sir," Gir replied.

Zim rolled his eyes, and sighed. This was an argument he knew he wasn't going to win. "All right, fine, let's but Pir away. And Gir, if you keep your promise, I'll give you all the cupcakes and tuna you want," Zim promised.

Gir's eyes got wide at the thought off all the cupcakes and tuna he'd ever want. "Deal!" Gir squeaked almost immediately. He then ran out of the lab as a way to celebrate.

"Zim, why didn't you promise him that sooner?" Dib asked.

  
"I don't know. I just remembered how much he liked them, I guess," Zim answered. "So, what do you want to do now, since I made the computer put Pir away?" Zim asked.

Dib thought for a while. "Well, it is dark out. We can look at the stars, if you want. I don't have to be home until seven," Dib suggested. 

Zim was shocked at that. "You like to look at the stars?" Zim asked.

"Yeah, doesn't everyone?" Dib asked. "Look, we don't have to if you don't want to, you know."

"Oh, no, it's not that. I always look at the stars, when I get the chance," Zim told Dib as they exited the lab.

"Really? I never knew that. I mean, I wasn't sure if they had stars on Irk," Dib stated.

"They do, but we don't have the same constellations. Plus, on Irk, I rarely had the chance to look at them. Work always took up all of my time," Zim explained.

The two boys walked outside to Zim's backyard. Zim laid down in his usual stargazing spot, and Dib made himself comfortable beside him. They looked up at the stars, both of them lost in thought. Then, suddenly, a shooting star made its way across the sky.

Zim, in all his life, had never seen a shooting star. He asked Dib about it.

"It's called a shooting star, Zim. People here on Earth make wishes on them when they see them," Dib explained. 

"Really? Okay, then," Zim said. He closed his eyes and made a wish.

"Now, don't tell anyone what your wish was, or it won't come true," Dib told Zim. Inside, Dib was laughing at himself. He sounded so fricken idiotic. 

"Do all humans make wishes on shooting stars?" Zim asked.

"No," Dib simply replied. "Some think that it's foolish if you wish on shooting star. Others once wished something on the shooting star, and it didn't come true, so they never wish on a shooting star again," Dib elaborated. "…Just like me," Dib whispered to himself.

Zim glanced over at Dib. He thought he had heard his friend say something else after his explanation. "What was that, Dib?" he asked.

Dib looked over at Zim. Had he heard him? "It was nothing, Zim," Dib lied. He didn't want to explain everything to Zim; it was just too painful for him. 

Zim propped himself up on one elbow and faced Dib. He studied his friend's face to see if Dib was lying to him. Dib glared at Zim for a few seconds, telling him without words to back off, and in those few seconds, Zim saw hurt in Dib's eyes. "Did you wish for something on a shooting star and it didn't come true?" Zim persisted. 

Dib's eyes got wide for a few moments before he looked down at the ground. "I don't want to talk about it," Dib answered finally. 

"Sometimes it's better to talk about things instead of keeping them to yourself. Jazz used to tell me that all the time," Zim said to his friend.

"It hurts too much to talk about, Zim," Dib explained. 

"Will you tell me what it is when it doesn't hurt as much?" Zim asked. He didn't like it when Dib kept things from him.

"I'll try to, Zim," Dib replied. He looked back up at the stars, and he saw another shooting star. He closed his eyes and made a wish much like Zim had, even if he didn't think it would work this time. He told himself it wouldn't hurt to try again.

The two remained silent for a while longer until Dib looked at his watch and realized it was time for him to go home. "I have to go, Zim," Do said quickly as he got off the ground, and Zim got up as well. He walked Dib through his house.

"See you tomorrow at skool, right?" Zim asked.

"I'll try to make it," Dib answered automatically. It was something that the two of them started one day when Dib was sick for skool, and he still came over Zim's house. Ever since it kinda stuck with them.

Zim watched Dib round the corner before shutting the door behind him. He began to worry about Dib. Dib never acted like that before. It made him wonder what could have caused Dib to act like that. 

Dib walked home in the cold. He knew he should have brought his jacket; it was going to be winter soon. However, the cold around him wasn't what was bothering him, it was the chill coming from his heart that made him shiver.

He asked himself why he reminded himself of that horrible event. He though he had completely forgot about it. He asked himself why he brought the memory of _her_ back. The woman who had left his family one day and never came back, the woman he once called Mom. 

Dib would never forget that night when he was only ten and a half and he wished his mother would come back on the first shooting star he had ever seen. He was highly disappointed when she did not return. Later he would realize how much his mother seemed to dislike his family, and how mentally abusive she was. Not once had he seen her kiss his father after they had Gaz. She would always complain about how Professor Membrane loved his work more than he loved her.

  
Dib laughed bitterly to himself. Why should she have complained? At least his father told her that he loved her. He couldn't remember a time when his mother simply said, "I love you," and sounded like she meant it. He remembered how devastated his father was when she was gone those first few weeks. His dad couldn't leave the house at all the first week alone, and it wasn't until after Dib had spoken some sense into his father did Membrane go to work at a regular basis. 

That was why he got defensive when Zim inquired about it. He didn't want to go into the whole mess of reliving the memories. He hated remembering things that were painful. He didn't want to hurt Zim's feelings by not opening up to him, but he felt as if this was too personal to share.

Zim was in his bed, staring up at the ceiling. He was thinking about how weird Dib was acting. Dib never acted upset over anything, and whatever caused him to withdraw from talking about it must have been pretty bad. He didn't like it when Dib was hurt.

Zim got off his bed and headed to his computer. He was going to send Jazz an email. Then he noticed the email Dib had sent him a little under a month ago. He never opened it, and he decided he never would. Dib thought he deleted it anyway. Why read it when Dib thought it was never read?

Dib walked into his house, thinking about his mother and how he wished that she would just contact them once. Even if she was abusive, he missed her. He made that wish on a shooting star over a year ago, and it never came true. Though that wasn't the same wish he made tonight when he saw the shooting star.

He and Zim wished the same thing when they saw their respective shooting stars. They both wanted the courage to admit their feelings to one another. Dib knew at least that wish could come true in time, and Zim believed it would help him find the courage quicker that way. Both had no idea what the shooting star could possibly do.

Arm: There you go! Chapter 6! I hope you all enjoyed it! See ya!

Leg: Oh, and review on your way out! Thank you! 


	7. Untitled

The Zim Files

Arm: Well, I tried getting this out on the 29th, but we've been so busy lately that we didn't get the chance for the past few days to get this out to you until today.

Leg: This is the first chapter that we _don't_ have a title for. We dwell on Dib's angst a little more… Please enjoy and review!

Betraying the Rivalry: Chapter 7: Untitled 

Dib got up the next morning and began searching for his glasses. He was still feeling a bit bitter about the memories of his mother, but at least now he didn't hurt as much. He always wondered why he his mother left his family. She seemed to have everything a normal woman would have wanted. The only flaw he had ever found with his family back then was the fact that his father was a workaholic (like that changed at all).

With his mother gone, his family fell apart. Gaz became obsessed with video games and began relying on Dib to get her the grades she needed to go into the next grade. His father became the world's biggest workaholic, even worse than what he used to be before his mother left. Dib, though, really never changed, besides the fact that he became more independent than ever. The three of them rarely spent time together anymore as well, and at the worst of times, Dib thought he was living with people he didn't know.

He could tell Zim all this, but he was afraid that Zim wouldn't understand. After all, Zim didn't seem to have a family. He had a few friends, but friends weren't just the same as family. If he told Zim about his thoughts on his family, Zim might try to understand, but Dib knew he wouldn't.

Zim was getting out of bed, the previous conversation from the night before still pounding in his ears. What could have caused Dib so much pain that he couldn't even talk about it? Zim knew it had to be really personal as well if Dib didn't want to talk about it. Zim also knew that Dib probably thought he wouldn't understand it, which Zim knew was a possibility. He rarely understood how things on Earth worked until someone explained it to him.

Which was why he was thankful to have a human friend, someone who he could ask how things worked without feeling inferior. It made it even better for him because Dib knew he was an alien, and he didn't have to act human in front of him, at least, when they were alone. Dib was a great help for him to act more human in public. 

Dib finished brushing his teeth and walked into his room, only to see Gaz's homework on his bed. Damnit, he had forgotten that she had asked him to do her homework last night. He took one look at it and scoffed. The homework was so easy that even Gir could do it, and in five minutes too! He wondered why Gaz couldn't even waste two seconds of her game time on doing this one little piece of homework. 

Dib had to roll his eyes at every question. He was wasting his brain cells, answering these pathetic math questions. He remembered a time when Gaz did her own homework, and silently wished that she had continued in doing so. Doing her homework and his own was not something he wanted to do while they were in high skool.

He got dressed after finishing Gaz's homework. It was Friday, so he knew he had to go to skool early so he could meet Zim. He and Zim always went to skool early on Fridays so they could discuss plans while no one was around. Today they needed to discus how they were going to show all the Irken Empire the tape they planned to get of Red and Purple. Dib just remembered that little detail a few days ago, and hadn't been able to bring it up while they worked on Pir. Dib did have a few ideas, but wasn't sure if they would work cause he didn't know the things about the Irken Empire that Zim did.

Zim hurriedly put on his disguise and hoped that Gir wouldn't notice he was getting ready for skool. He hoped this because he didn't want to end up answering all the usual questions Gir had to ask him before he left. He got lucky this morning. Zim grabbed his things and opened the front door as quietly as he could, and breathed a sigh of relief once he made it out of the house--

--only to be greeted by Gir in his doggy costume. "Gah!" Zim shouted in shock as Gir popped out of nowhere.

"Hello," Gir said. "Where are you going?"

"Skool, Gir. Where else would I be going?" Zim asked the little android agitatedly as he regained his composure.

Gir moved out of Zim's way. "I'll try not to mess up the house, 'kay?" Gir asked.

"That's perfectly fine, Gir," Zim replied as he walked out of the yard. He didn't notice the person pop out of the bushes across the street from him and get into a blue car.

Zim walked down the street and wondered if Dib would be coming to skool early. Usually he didn't forget, but after their conversation last night, Zim wasn't sure if Dib would want to meet with him. Zim's questions were answered when he saw Dib walking toward him as he walked into the skool grounds. Gaz was there too, but she glared at the two of them for making her go to skool early. 

The two of them waited for her to go to the other side of the playground before speaking to one another. "So, Dib, what are we going to discuss this morning?" Zim asked.

"We have to come up with a way to show the whole Irken Empire that tape we plan to get of Red and Purple," Dib answered.

"Oh, that? That should be easy. I think I should be able to open all the transmission lines to all the Irken soldiers and show them the tape that way," Zim replied. 

Dib blinked. Zim tried not to laugh at that. "Gee, that was easy," Dib said finally.

"I know. Aren't I amazing?" Zim asked.

"I wouldn't know, Zim, it all depends on who you ask," Dib replied.

"What? You don't think I'm amazing?" Zim asked, looking at Dib strangely. He continued for a bit before smiling evilly at Dib. 

"Oh no, what have you got planned for me now?" Dib asked as he began to back away from Zim. The last time Zim looked at him like that was when he placed Dib in a locked room with Gir for a few hours.

"Nothing…if you admit that I'm amazing," Zim stated.

Dib rolled his eyes; he should have seen that coming. "Fine, Zim, the Irken Invader, is the most amazing guy I know," Dib stated in a deadpan voice.

Zim shook his head. "You'll never make a good actor if you don't sound like you mean it…. But Dib, are you still angry about last night?" Zim asked cautiously.

Dib glared at the ground. "I'll be fine, okay? It's nothing you should be worried about, Zim," Dib replied coldly.

"I know I shouldn't be worried about it, but I'm going to anyway," Zim stated.

"And why's that, Zim? Why are you suddenly interested in my problems?" Dib asked as he tried to remain calm.

"The same reason why you worried about me when I got banished for a second time a little over a month ago, and because I'm your friend, I'm supposed to worry about things like that," Zim answered. 

"But another part of being a friend is respecting your friend's privacy, Zim," Dib countered.

"Fine, I won't ask about it anymore," Zim told Dib. He fought the pain he was starting to feel from his heart by the fact that Dib wouldn't open up to him. 

Dib finally looked up from the ground. He saw that Zim looked hurt at the fact that he wouldn't tell him about his family problems. "Zim, I'm not mad at you," Dib explained quickly, "I'm mad at myself for not being able to tell you," he continued. 

Zim looked at his friend with a confused expression on his face before looking at everyone else climbing into skool. "Everyone's going in, we don't want Ms. Bitters to yell at us for being late," Zim stated suddenly, as if to change the subject. 

"Yeah," Dib replied distractedly as he followed Zim up the front steps of the skool. "I'm sorry Zim," Dib whispered to himself.

Zim wanted to ask why Dib had said that, but he didn't. Zim knew that Dib said that out loud to himself in hopes that it would go unheard. Zim was starting to get used to those little mumblings, but he wished Dib would open up to him and say it to his face. He hated it when Dib just mumbled things to himself like that.

Dib looked at Zim, expectant to see his friend turn around and ask him, "What did you say?" He was relieved when Zim didn't. He hated keeping things like this from him like this, but he was convinced that Zim would not understand. Dib wished he could open up to Zim, but he felt as if needed more time to get used to the friendship thing.

Zim sat down in his seat and watched Dib sit down in his. He noticed how sad and depressed Dib's actions were. He didn't like this side to Dib. Dib was usually very open about things, but he took a wild guess that whatever was bothering Dib must have been very personal.

Dib felt someone watching him, and he looked around the room. He smiled a small smile as he watched Zim's head slightly turn out of the corner of his eye. That was such a human reaction. He turned around and tried to pay attention to Ms. Bitters, but simply couldn't.

Dib told himself he had to make it up to Zim. Maybe he wouldn't tell Zim about his family problems, but he could tell Zim something else….

Arm: Is that a confession I see over the horizon? Oh, and we apologize to EmeraldDragon, we didn't mean to subconsciously steal the name of your Gir-like unit. 

Leg: Yeah, it was one of those flukes… Well, read and review everyone! Please? 


	8. Debbie

The Zim Files

Arm: Chapter eight! Yeah, and it's on time! Have fun reading everyone!

Leg: Don't forget to review on the way out!

Betraying the Rivalry: Chapter 8: Debbie 

Zim walked home from skool, wondering why Dib acted differently around him after their conversation before skool. During lunch, they rarely spoke to one another. Zim hoped that his interest in what was bothering Dib wouldn't cause Dib to not come over his house.

Dib asked himself if he should go to Zim's. They still had a lot of work to get done on Pir, and since he had most of the plans with him, Zim wouldn't get very far by himself. Dib just didn't feel very sociable today. 

"Dib, are you going over Zim's house today?" Gaz asked suddenly.

"I don't know, Gaz," Dib answered, finally looking up from the ground. 

"Well, if you are, tell his green ass that if the two of you make me go to skool early again, I will destroy the both of you," Gaz threatened. 

"Yeah, sure, I'll tell him," Dib replied as he went back to thinking.

"Hey, whose car is that?" Gaz asked suddenly. Dib looked up from the ground again and noticed the blue Mitsubishi Mirage in their driveway.

"Well, we know that isn't one of dad's friends, neither of them have a car _that_ blue," Dib stated. Then his eyes got wide as he remembered something. "No way," he whispered to himself.

"No way what, Dib?" Gaz asked.

"Remember what mom's car looked like?" Dib asked. That car looked like the one his mother used to own, and if it was her car, then that meant….

"No, I never really paid much attention to it," Gaz replied without hesitation. Then she looked at Dib strangely. "You're not saying that that's mom's car, are you?" Gaz asked him. 

"I don't know, but there's only one way to find out," Dib replied as he headed towards the front door. He was feeling hopeful that it was his mom's car and that his mom was back, but deep inside he knew she wouldn't possibly came back after that amount of time and expect to be welcomed back. 

"Dad, we're home!" Dib shouted as he entered the house. He waited for the usual "Hi son," but never got it.

"Dad?" Gaz called out.

"Gaz, Dib, you're finally home!" Membrane said from the kitchen. Dib could tell by the sound of his father's voice that he was happy that they were finally home (for once). "Come over here into the kitchen you two, there's someone here to see you!" he ordered lightly.

Gaz nearly ran into the kitchen in hopes that it was their mother. Dib walked slower than Gaz and gripped the strap to his book bag so hard that his knuckles were nearly white. He was feeling anxious. What if it wasn't his mother? What if it was? What would he say to her? "Hey mom, where have ya been? I hope you enjoyed your time, I sure know we didn't since you left us out in the cold"? 

He walked into the kitchen finally, to see that it wasn't his mother, but another woman. It was someone his father knew quite well though. Dib saw the disappointment in Gaz's eyes. She really hoped that it would be their mother. Dib sighed, but he didn't know if it was a sigh of disappointment or relief. The woman had bright blue eyes and light red hair, and Dib could tell that she was someone his father worked with. She was dressed in the almost same exact attire as his father.

"Hey dad, who's this?" Dib asked as he sat down in the chair next to Gaz. 

"This is Debbie, she's my new…uh…" Membrane trailed off in slight embarrassment. 

"Girlfriend?" Gaz supplied as she pulled out her GameSlave from her pocket. 

Dib inwardly flinched at that word. His father already fell for another woman? Dib knew he should feel happy for his father, but he didn't want a stepmother, at least, not now. 

"You can say that," Membrane replied. Suddenly the phone began to ring. "I'll get it. Debbie, get to know the kids," he stated as he headed for the phone. 

"Um, I work with your father, and I've heard so much about the two of you from your father. I hope we can become really good frien--" She was cut off by Membrane telling Dib that the phone was for him. 

"Excuse me, Debbie," Dib said in his most polite voice. He thanked whoever called him for getting him out of that conversation with Debbie. "Hello? …Oh, hi Zim… No, I don't know if I can…. My dad just introduced Gaz and I to a 'friend' of his…. He might not let me go, you know…. Alright, alright, I'll try to get him let me over. And tell Gir I said hi if I can't, okay? Bye." Dib hung up the phone and walked back into the kitchen.

"Who was it, Dib, your girlfriend?" Debbie asked. 

"No, it was my bestfriend. He wanted to know if I was allowed to go over his house today. We're working on a skool project together, and we have to finish it real soon. He doesn't want to work on it by himself because I have most of the plans and he doesn't want to mess it up," Dib explained to her.

"You and Zim are always working on something," Gaz said as she looked up from her game. "I'll never understand how the two of you became friends in the first place. You were sworn enemies," Gaz continued.

"We came to an understanding, that's all," Dib told her.

"Oh what? Did he tell you he was really an alien like you suspected or something?" Gaz asked.

Dib looked at Gaz like she had grown two heads. "No, something happened to him and I realized how much he needed a friend," Dib told her.

"So, Dib, tell me about your friend Zim," Debbie told him.

"He's a pretty cool guy. He's new to this area, but I'm helping him get used to it here--"

"Yeah, Dib thought Zim was an alien, only because he's weird," Gaz told Debbie. Debbie just smiled at Dib's reaction to that.

"Yeah, and? Zim and I cleared that up," Dib stated. "Zim's also very smart. He and I are going to create the best project the skool's ever seen, and he called to tell me that he needed my help. His dog, Gir, messed something up on it that he can't figure out how to fix. So, dad, can I go?" Dib rambled. He hoped that Membrane would say yes.

"I don't know, son. Don't you want to get to know Debbie better?" Membrane asked.

"Oh, let him go to his friend's house. This seems very important to him," Debbie said to Membrane. 

"Oh, okay, but be home by six," Membrane ordered.

Dib said thank you to his dad, and thanked Debbie for convincing his father to let him go. Dib ran upstairs to his room to get his plans. Why did Gir have to go back on his word? Dib said a quick good bye to his family before heading out the door.

Dib slowed down his pace the second he was out of the house. He needed to think. How could his father possibly even _try_ to replace his mother? At least this was the first one, and it had been nearly two years after his mother left. He knew his father couldn't possibly hold off being single for much longer, but it still hurt to know his father had given up on his mother.

Dib was snapped out of his thoughts as he saw Gir run towards him.

"Help me Dib!" the poor robot shouted, "Zim's really gonna kill me this time!"

Dib saw Zim round the corner. He did look really pissed, but when he saw Dib protecting Gir, he relaxed a little. "Oh there you are, Dib. Keep Gir over there behind you for a while, he nearly destroyed Pir while you were on your way over to my house," Zim explained.

"_Nearly_ destroyed Pir?" Dib asked. Gir looked as if he were about to cry.

"I-I didn't mean to!" Gir said in defense for himself. He didn't like it when Dib was angry with him too.

"I _know_ you didn't mean to, but the point is that you _did_, Gir. We now have a month or less to repair _and_ finish Pir before Jazz gets here. Pir is very important to our mission, Gir," Dib explained. "Now, listen, Gir, and I want you to take this seriously, do NOT go near Pir or Zim's lab until we're done with Pir, got it?" Dib ordered.

"Yes, sir," Gir said in a meek voice.

"Now, go back to the house, I need to talk to Zim about something," Dib ordered. Gir ran off and headed for the house.

"What are you going to tell me, Dib?" Zim asked.

"I have no idea, actually," Dib answered. He did have an idea of what he was going to say, but he no idea on how to word it.

"Does it have anything to do with your dad? Maybe your mom?" Zim asked. He noticed that Dib's face darkened after he mentioned the word "mom."

"I don't know, Zim, alright?" Dib asked as he became defensive again.

Zim now had an idea on what was bothering Dib. Maybe if he just asked small things about Dib's family while they were fixing Pir, he could get to the bottom of what was bothering Dib.

Dib hoped that when he got home Debbie would be gone. There was something he didn't like about her.

Arm: Hey, you guys should have known this was coming. Pay attention to what Leg said at the beginning of this part, and do what she says! Bye bye! 


	9. Thoughts and Other Things

The Zim Files

Arm: Chapter nine had arrived like we promised! And, I have a word of warning: besides A Strange Twist of Fate (which, by the way, the title is subject to change), I have started a new fic… 

Leg: Yeah, watch for it… She isn't finished writing it first though, so it might take a while to get here…. Well, let's stop talking your ears off! Go read now!

Betraying the Rivalry: Chapter 9: Thoughts and Other Things

Dib walked home from Zim's relieved that the damage Gir had done was easily fixed. That was something that shocked both Zim and Dib, usually when Gir messed up something they did, it took them about a week to repair, and this time it only took an hour. 

Dib walked up to his front steps and noticed that Debbie's care was gone. He breathed a sigh of relief. He knew she was nice, but there was something about her didn't like. There was an air of coldness coming from her, something he also sensed from Ms. Bitters as well. They couldn't be related, could they?

Dib shivered at that thought. A stepmother that was related to his teacher? Yeah, right. He knew his father had better taste than that. They might not be related, but they both made him feel uncomfortable.

Dib called out that he was home, and Gaz greeted him almost instantly.

"Hey, Dib. Man, did you miss the best dinner we ever had in years!" she said from the living room. "Debbie made it," Gaz added.  
  
"Really? Is there any left-overs?" Dib asked. He didn't eat anything while he was at Zim's, and he was starving.

"No, dad ate the last of it," Gaz explained. 

Dib sighed. It figured that he was still going to have to eat cereal for dinner. Whenever they had a real dinner, Dib was never around because he was at an Eyeball meeting, and by the time he got home, it was usually time for him to get ready for skool. 

"So, were you able to fix whatever Gir had messed up?" Gaz asked. She figured she should try to get some kind of conversation going. 

"Yeah, it was unusually easy to repair," Dib told her.

"Really? Do you think that Zim might have broke it himself and you that Gir broke it in hopes that you would come over?" Gaz asked. 

Dib looked at her weirdly. "Zim wouldn't do that, Gaz," he told her as he took his bowl of cereal upstairs to his room. He didn't catch Gaz's mumbled reply, but he was pretty sure on what she had said. She asked him if he was sure on it, and to be perfectly honest with himself, he didn't truly know.

Zim placed Pir in a place that he was _sure_ Gir couldn't get to. He could not believe how easy that was to fix. He seriously was about to kill or seriously harm the poor SIR robot when he saw what he had done to the unfinished Pir. It was a good thing he ran when he did and hid behind Dib, or he would have actually done what he had planned to do.

  
Zim walked over to his laser weasel experiment (or LWE, as he now referred to it), but he couldn't concentrate on the weasels. Dib's behavior was really starting to get to him. Dib was really pensive while they worked on Pir. Zim figured it had something to do with Dib's mother that made his friend act like he was.

"But what could it be?" Zim asked himself as he typed on his computer. "What is it about his mother that is bothering him so much?"

Zim shook his head. He could speculate all he wanted, but he was never going to know unless he asked Dib. By this point, Zim knew it was better to speculate than to ask questions. He didn't want Dib to stop speaking to him completely, which was the absolute last thing he needed right now. Zim just hoped that Dib would open up to him soon. He didn't think he could handle this pensive side to Dib much longer. 

Dib placed his bowl into the sink. He was amazed that all the dishes were finally washed, leaving a clean sink. He figured that Debbie must have washed them. He admired her for that because those dishes were so dirty and in there for so long that Dib had done mold experiments with them when he was younger, much younger.

Dib then felt a chill go down his spine. Why did he get that chill whenever he thought of Debbie? It was starting to bother him. He didn't like the way she looked nor they way she talked. She just seemed so…fake, like she was acting nice and talking nicely, but she wasn't like that deep down.

Dib didn't like it. It reminded him too much of the way his mother used to act around them while they were out in public. Always smiling, acting really polite, but when they got home…. Dib hated it. She was cold, heartless, and unfeeling. Maybe Debbie wasn't acting like that now, but he asked himself what if Debbie started to? What if Debbie left them after she realized they weren't the family she wanted to them to be? 

"Stop it, Dib, just stop thinking like that," Dib ordered to himself silently as he walked up to his room. He always started to think negative like that over the stupidest things. Dib knew it was only making him more and more depressed than he needed to be, but he couldn't help himself. What made it worse was the fact that he was afraid Zim would somehow get involved. Debbie had shown an uncharacteristic interest in Zim. Did she believe what Gaz had said, even if it was the truth?

"Oh great," Dib thought out loud, "now all I need to do is worry about Zim." Dib hoped that Debbie wasn't as obsessed with aliens as he used to, or Zim was going to be in for one hell of a ride.

Zim remembered during Parent/Teacher night that Dib only brought his father to it (or, his father's image from across town). He didn't even mention his mother. From the looks of it, Dib's mother seemed to be gone from his life. 

Zim's thoughts were broken when the computer blipped. He saw that he had a new email from Jazz, and he read it as fast as he could. Jazz said that he would be a little late coming to Earth. Zim was at first ticked off at that, but he then realized that it gave him and Dib more time to finish Pir. Zim then noticed another email he had received early that day by someone he didn't know. 

That caught Zim's interest. He opened it, expecting to be one of those harmless email gags. It wasn't an email gag, but one of those kind of emails he used to get from Dib, saying that whoever sent it would tell the world that he was an alien. Great, all he needed now was another human trying to destroy him. He wrote down the address, and resolved to ask Dib about the address tomorrow, since tomorrow was going to be a Saturday.

Dib checked his email. There weren't any new emails from CropCircles.com and any member messages from the Swollen Eyeballs. He asked himself if he should send an email to Zim, but decided not to. Zim was probably out doing something right now.

Dib asked himself yet again if he should tell Zim the long story about his mother. He just didn't like keeping things from Zim like that. Zim was his only friend after all, and he knew that Zim would try to understand. And even if he didn't, he would at least get it off his chest.

That reminded Dib of the other secret he was keeping from Zim. The one that was purely from his heart. Dib was able to admit it to himself, and with the way he was, he was afraid he would just blurt something out without thinking. He didn't want to blurt it out without thinking, that always made him feel stupid. He wanted to admit it consciously, and he promised himself he would really soon.

Zim went over to his files, and read through the ones on Dib. He sighed as he added things to it. He was never going to figure Dib out, which was the main reason why he continued to study Dib. Zim wanted to figure at least some of Dib out, so that he understood his friend a little better. The mysterious side to Dib made him…attracted to the human, and if he figured that side he out…well, he didn't want to think about it.

Zim knew what he felt for Dib now, and he was shocked for a little it afterward when he first figured it out. He didn't really expect to fall for his once rival, but he knew life had a funny way of working things out. He knew he should tell Dib about his feelings, but he also knew that now was not the time. Especially since he and Dib were barely talking to one another. 

Zim hated that. He just hated it when he and Dib couldn't communicate like they used to. It was only a month into their friendship, and things like this usually didn't happen until much later on. Zim knew he was going to have to find a way to get Dib to open up without making Dib feel like he as being cornered. He didn't want to use mind control either, like he had done with that Keef kid. 

Zim shivered at the memory of his hired bestfriend. Keef had creeped him out, and rightfully so. No wonder they kid was a reject; he couldn't tell when he wasn't wanted. And he was very clingy, that, in itself, was scary.

Dib turned off the light to his room. He told himself he should tell Zim about his mother and about Debbie. He needed to tell someone about that before it eventually drove him insane. That, and he knew that Zim would figure it out by himself. He'd rather tell Zim himself than have Zim do a whole bunch of research on it.

Besides, that something about Debbie that unnerved him so much had to be discussed with Zim. Zim could help him figure out things about Debbie, especially since he was beginning to worry about Zim's safety. Debbie interest in Zim after Gaz mentioned that Dib used to think that Zim was an alien told him that she believed Gaz.

Zim and Dib went to bed that night, and planned out what they were going to do tomorrow. Zim hoped that Dib was in the mood to open up to him, and Dib hoped that Zim would try to understand everything he was going to say.

Arm: Well, there you go. I'll work on that new fic I was telling you about. I have to write the first two chapters before I even post the first one, it gives me a sense that I'm working ahead that way.

Leg: I don't know why, she's always off schedule and late anyway. Well, go review now! See ya later everyone! 


	10. A Day for Confessions

The Zim Files

Arm: 10! Woo! Chapter ten! My god, and it looks like there's actually a…NO WAY!

Leg: Ignore her, she just had a piece of left over wedding cake. You all know that we don't own the characters, and for Jhonen V., that might actually be a good thing, but you'll just have to figure out why for yourselves…. Go read!

Betraying the Rivalry: Chapter Ten: A Day for Confessions (Arm: A CONFESSION, WOO! Leg: Shut up!)

Zim woke up the next morning because Gir was standing over him, dripping water on his face. 

"Gir! What are you doing?!" Zim shrieked in alarm. He forgot that he had bathed in paste, so he was waiting for the pain to come.

"I dunno. Dib's here to see you," Gir said without much thinking. "He said he wanted to talk to you about something!" Gir continued as Zim got up and walked over to one of the entrances out of his lab.

Zim was wondering what time it could possibly be if Dib came over and he was still awake. He looked at the only clock in his house. He blinked in surprise as he realized that it was past twelve. He must have been really tired last night if he actually slept in that long.

"Good afternoon, sleepy-head. What time did you go to bed at last night?" Dib asked. "Usually by now you're diligently working on something," Dib stated. 

"Shut up, Dib, you usually aren't here until two," Zim replied as he wiped his eyes. 

"What, you sleep in to one on Saturdays?" Dib asked.

"No, not usually," Zim answered as he yawned. "Gir said you wanted to talk to me about something," Zim said suddenly, looking wide-awake now.

"Yeah, I do. You see, this had been bothering me for a while now, as you know, especially since we saw that shooting star," Dib began as he sat down on the couch. He looked down at his hands, trying to figure out if he should continue or not.

Zim followed him, using his mechanical legs to get onto the couch. "Go on," Zim said gently as he placed a hand on Dib's shoulder. 

Dib looked up from his hands and into Zim's eyes. He sighed before continuing, he did promise himself that he would tell Zim this last night, and there was no backing out of it now. "You see, two years ago, my mom got ready for work one day, left the house in her car, and…never came back," Dib said slowly.

"Never…came back?" Zim asked as he removed his hand from Dib's shoulder. He wanted to hold Dib's hand, as a way to make it easier for his friend to continue, but he refrained from doing so.

"Yeah, but that's only half of it. My mother never acted like she loved us. She was always cold and heartless, at least, to me and my father," Dib stated. He noticed the confused look on Zim's face. "She loved Gaz, though. I can't remember a time when she was mean to Gaz, or when she was nice to me," Dib continued with slight difficulty, he could feel his throat close up on him, but he fought it as best he could.

"Dib, I had no idea…. But when she left, you missed her, didn't you?" Zim dared to ask. He knew that Dib was having a hard time with reliving the memories. "And you even wished that she would come back?"

"Yeah, I did…. Now, after two years, my father has met a new woman. She seems nice, but there's this air of coldness coming from her. I don't like her at all. She reminds me too much of my mom," Dib paused as his throat clenched up again, and finally choked out the rest while fighting tears. "And I'm afraid that she'll do what my mom did to my family before. My father already lost one wife, and if he loses Debbie, I don't even want to think of what he would be like…. He was devastated when my mom left," Dib said as he looked down at his hands and sighed. He blinked away the tears before looking back at Zim. 

Zim had no idea as to what he should do to help Dib feel better. He remembered what Gir always does for him whenever he was depressed or angry, which was give him a hug. Zim figured that that was what Dib needed right now. Zim hugged Dib and hoped that it would work.

Dib was shocked that Zim was hugging him, but he soon relaxed and hugged Zim back. He was really thankful for the hug; it was what he really needed right then. He said, "Thanks Zim," when they let each other go.

"You're welcome, Dib," Zim said as he noted Dib's smile. 

"It feels great to get all of that off my chest," Dib said as he smiled even more. Suddenly, the smile faded as Dib remembered something. "Zim, there's something else that's bothering me about Debbie," Dib said quietly.

"What is it?" Zim asked. He felt like this had something to do with him.

"I was telling her about you after you called, last night. She didn't even seem to care too much about you until Gaz said something about you being an alien. I think she believed what Gaz said," Dib told him. 

Zim looked over at his friend and tried to understand what he was trying to say. Then is hit him. "Oh shit, I was having so much fun without having to worry about being discovered. Do you know Debbie's email address?" Zim asked him as he pulled out the paper he had written down that email address on out of his pocket. "I received an email similar to the ones you used to send me from this address last night," Zim stated as he handed Dib the paper to look at it.

"I won't know because I don't know Debbie's email address, but I'll ask her about it. She's going to be at my house this afternoon to move in, the other reason why I came over here so early," Dib said as he studied the email address. 

"Really? She's moving in already?" Zim asked.

"Yeah, and Gaz and I just met her yesterday. She and dad figured why not while I was at your house last night, when we were working on Pir. I didn't even find out about the move until this morning," Dib answered.

"Speaking of Pir, I still want to finish him, but…" Zim trailed off. How could he say that he didn't want to get back at Red and Purple anymore to Dib? Dib had wanted to get back at the two since that day they became friends almost as much as he did.

"But what, Zim?" Dib asked. He suddenly understood. "You don't want to get back at Red and Purple anymore, do you?" Dib inquired. Zim nodded his head slowly. "But why? What caused this sudden change of plans?" Dib continued.

"I don't know. I just don't want to get back at them anymore, I guess," Zim replied.

Dib just nodded his head. "Fine, if you really don't want to get back at them, you don't have to. As long as we finish Pir, since we could use him for other things in the future," Dib told him as he leaned back on the couch. "So, what do you want to do now? Go work on Pir?" Dib asked.

"I wanted to tell you something else, actually," Zim began slowly. He hoped that Dib was ready to hear this from him. There was no way he wasn't going to say this, since Dib had to courage to tell him about his family problems, he figured he might as well tell Dib his secret.

"Really? What's that?" Dib asked. He moved closer to Zim subconsciously.

"I wanted to tell you that I-" Zim was cut off by Dib's cell phone. Zim cursed the tiny object for cutting him off. The second that phone had rung, his courage had gone bye-bye.

Dib sighed as he answered the lasted phone. "Dib here, talk to me…. Aw, but Da-… All right, all right, I'm on my way home…Yeah, see you soon…. Bye dad," and with that he hung up the phone. "Damn you, Debbie," Dib muttered under his breath.

"You have to go?" Zim asked.

"Yeah, I'd ask if you'd like to come over, but Debbie's there. She wants to see me," Dib explained.

"Can't I sneak into your room like last time?" Zim asked as he put on his disguise (and he put it on correctly the first time, too).

Dib thought about it. "Yeah, sure, just don't touch anything in there, I have alarms on almost all my stuff as you know, and don't make too much noise getting there, too," Dib ordered as he walked out of the door, Zim not too far behind him.

"I'll make sure I won't, this time," Zim told him as they walked to Dib's house.

"Hey, Zim, what were you going to tell me before my phone rang?" Dib asked. He looked over at Zim and noticed the small blush across his cheeks. 

"I was going to tell you that…that I…um…" was basically all that Zim was able to manage. He stopped mumbling and gave Dib a desperate look.

Dib tried not to laugh, he knew what Zim was trying to say now, or, at least he was pretty sure. Dib just decided that words wouldn't suffice for right now, so he took Zim's hand into his own, since he knew he felt the same way. "I think I understand what you're trying to say, Zim," Dib stated as he saw Zim blush even more. 

Zim smiled and said, "And I take it you feel the same way," it was a statement, not a question.

Dib blushed lightly. "Yeah, well, I do…" Dib replied as he held onto Zim's hand a little harder.

Zim sighed in content. So wishing on shooting stars did help him get the courage he needed to tell Dib his feelings. Well, he didn't tell Dib them, but Dib understood what he was trying to say, so it was almost the same. 

The two walked home in silence, but not that kind that made people uneasy to be apart of. Dib had to let go of Zim's hand as they were almost at his house. "You better go to my room, before someone sees you. I should be there in a few minutes, ten at the most, okay?" Dib asked. 

Zim nodded as he headed towards the back of his house. This would be the third time he had sneaked into Dib's room. Zim used his mechanical legs to get up to get up to Dib's window. He opened it like he had the last time, but he entered the room quieter than he had that time. He listened to the conversation going on underneath him.

"Oh, Dib, you're finally home!" a voice he didn't recognized said. He figured that she was Debbie.

"It's nice that you wanted to see me, and since you saw me, can I go to my room?" Dib asked.

"Quite the joker, aren't you? I bet the ladies are all over you," Debbie stated. Zim had to stifle a laugh. He heard Gaz start giggling from wherever she was. If she only knew how the girls in skool treated Dib on a regular basis, she wouldn't be saying that.

"No, they aren't, they all say I'm too weird for them," Dib explained. 

"Oh… Were you at that friend of yours?" Debbie asked. 

"Yeah, I was. Why?" Dib asked her. Zim could hear the defensive note in his voice.

"Just wondering. Is he really an alien from outerspace?" Debbie asked, her tone sounding like she was joking. 

Zim held his breath as he waited for Dib's response. "No, but I thought he was because he didn't quite fit in," Dib responded. Zim sighed a breath of relief. 

"Really? When do I get to meet…Zim, was it?" Debbie asked.

Zim said, "Hopefully never," to himself. He heard Dib say that he's try to get Zim over here on day, but right now he had work for skool to do.

Zim waited for Dib to arrive in his room. "Zim," Dib started as he shut the door behind him, "I think she knows."

"Well, all we can do is wait and see, Dib," Zim told him as he grabbed one of Dib's magazines. He always found them very funny to look at. The two had a good time and remained as quiet as they could so that no one would know that Dib wasn't alone in his room.

Zim looked at the time and decided it was time for him to go home. Gir might have destroyed something important to him by now. He and Dib did a quick good bye and he jumped out of the window, just when there was a knock on the door….

Arm: Muahahahahaha! Our cliffhangers return! 

Leg: It was her idea. I didn't want to end it there. So, anyway, go review! What are you doing standing around and not looking at the review box for? This might be our last chapter for a long time, because we're going to Ohio on Friday for vacation. 

Arm: Yeah, and chapter one to ASToF might not get finished typing before we leave, too. It's really long, unlike the prologue. 


	11. A Brand New Foe

The Zim Files

Arm: Here's eleven! Man, you should really review because we worked hard typing everything up so that you have tons to read while we're gone.

Leg: Yeah, I know. Our hands are cramped, and we took like billions of breaks and everything.

Hip: Oh, stop whining you bunch of babies. 

Betraying the Rivalry: Chapter Eleven: A Brand New Foe 

Dib checked to see if Zim was out of sight from his bedroom window before even going over to his door to open it. He wondered whom it could be, but before answering it, he made it look like he hadn't been doing anything but the usual experimenting. He opened the door to find Debbie on the other side of it.

"Oh, hi Debbie, come in, come in," Dib said with a fake smile. "Don't mind the mess, I was building something," Dib lied.

"I thought I heard voices in here, Dib," Debbie stated, her fake smile finally gone. "Where did he go?" Debbie asked.

"Where did who go, Debbie? It's only me in here," Dib said with feigned innocence.

"Don't play games with me, Dib. Where did the alien go?" Debbie asked as she started to back Dib up into a wall.

"What alien? I don't know an alien," Dib lied through his teeth as he backed up from her.

"_Zim_, Dib, where did he go?" Debbie asked as she began to search his room for any signs that Zim had been there.

"Forget it, Debbie, I'm not going to let you near him," Dib stated, dropping his innocent act.

"Look, Dib, if Zim stays here on Earth, he'll take it over! He's under the orders of his superiors to take it over, so don't tell me he won't," Debbie told him.

"Look, Debbie, I know for a fact that he won't be posing a threat to the human race anymore," Dib stated knowingly.

"So you admit that he's an alien? Do you have any idea how much danger you just put him in right now?" Debbie asked tauntingly.

"Yeah, I know, but I also know that Zim can get out of any situation you throw at him," Dib told her.

"How would you know, Dib? The only human who ever tried to prove he was an alien and capture him was _you_, a mere boy at the age of twelve, almost, and you've never even seen an alien, let alone capture one, until you met him. Now me, on the other hand, I'm much older, and, in the past, I've dealt with plenty of aliens. Who do you think has a better chance at capturing Zim?" Debbie asked.

"Stay away from Zim, Debbie. I'm warning you, if you so much as touch my only friend, I--"

" 'Only friend,' Dib? I wonder how the two of you became friends in the first place. From what Gaz tells me, you two never got along until a little over a month ago. Explain to me how that happened," Debbie ordered.

"Like I'd ever tell you!" Dib told her angrily.

"Tell me, Dib, or I can blow up Zim's house if you decide not to," Debbie threatened as she grabbed him by the shirt.

Dib flinched at her grip, but his glare never died. She wouldn't dare as to do that. That would be destroying her evidence. "We came to an understanding, like I told you last night, Debbie. As to what we came to an understanding _on_, I'll never tell you, for Zim's sake. Besides, you wouldn't do that anyway, you would be destroying your evidence," Dib told her. He smiled at her triumphantly, even though her grip tightened on him.

Debbie looked down at the ground as she realized the child in her hands was right. She muttered a reasonably strong curse as she tossed him back down onto the ground. "I have my eye on you, Dib, and Zim. I'll promise you this before I leave to go to my meeting: Zim's guts will be spewed across an autopsy table by the end of the week," Debbie said just before she slammed his door shut.

"Jeez, did I sound that crazy when _I_ promised Zim that?" Dib asked himself as he straightened out his trench coat. The war was on. He grabbed his cell phone; he had to warn Zim about Debbie.

"Hello, Zim here…. Oh, hi Dib, how's it going?… You're kidding…. Man, not this all over again… Let her try to, Dib, just let her try…. She won't be able to touch me!… Okay, okay, I'll be careful…. Yes, I'm pretty sure everything is secure in my home base…. Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow…. Oh, and come a different way, just incase Debbie follows you…. Bye Dib," Zim finally said before hanging up the phone. Dib sounded a whole lot like those girls on TV that constantly nagged at their boyfriends.

Zim sighed. This was just what he needed, a crazed human bent on making him miserable. Oh joy, the life of an Irken Invader who can't invade anymore to begin with since he was banished. The poor human had no idea what she was dealing with. He knew Dib tried explaining to her that he wasn't going to take over the world, but he knew that most people (humans and Irkens alike) only heard what they wanted to hear.

Zim smiled at the thought of Dib. He still was very happy that Dib felt the same way towards him. Oh, if that didn't make him happy, he didn't know what would. He was glad that Dib had caught on to what he was trying to say before that stupid phone had cut him off. He was still confused as to if they were…oh, what was it that the humans called it again? Going out. He wondered if they were going out now, or if they were still friends. He had planned to ask Dib while they were reading the magazines, but he never got the chance.

Suddenly, as Zim took off his disguise and trotted over to the toilet entrance to his lab, Zim felt as if he wasn't alone anymore. He looked over at the couch to see if Gir was there, and didn't see the little android. He turned around and continued to the toilet, but stopped when he thought he heard a noise.

"Gir? Is that you?" Zim asked, trying to show no fear. "Come on, Gir, it isn't funny to trick your master like this," Zim said as he turned around and walked out of the kitchen and looked around his fortress.

Zim shrugged it off when he couldn't find Gir. Then he head the noise again, accompanied by a small click of the roll of film being put into a camera. "Computer! Scan the house for foreign bodies!" Zim ordered out of habit.

'There is an unidentifiable heat energy coming up from above you," the computer said after a few seconds of searching. 

Zim looked up stupidly to see who it was, only to be blinded by a flash of light. "Damn you, whoever you are!" Zim shouted as he tended to his eyes. "Computer, capture the intruder!" Zim ordered while he nursed his eyes so that he could see again.

"What's the matter, _Zim_, can't do anything without the help of your precious computer?" a feminine voice asked him. Zim turned to the voice and saw a woman, who he figured to be Debbie. "If you are wondering who I am, my name is Debbie Doom, or D.D., to the Swollen Eyeballs, but you may call me Debbie," she told him. "I'm the future step-mother to your only friend, Zim, if you are still confused as to who I am," Debbie continued.

"I _know_ who you _are_, I'm not _that_ stupid!" Zim replied.

"You could have fooled me. You do know that I have pictures of you now, right?" Debbie asked him as she showed him her camera. 

"I know, Debbie, Dib once tried getting pictures of me, before we were friends," Zim told her.

"Oh, really? Well, well, well, Dib's smarter than I thought," Debbie in slight approval. "Too bad he wasn't competent enough to show the world those photos…. I'll make a deal with you, Zim," Debbie began.

"What kind of deal?" Zim said as he pushed a button on his emergency communicator he used in such times, and it was already wired to Dib's communicator.

Dib looked over at his communicator in his house, and saw that there was a transmission trying to get through. He pushed the button to turn it on, and it showed him Zim and Debbie. He remained quiet as he watched what was taking place before him.

"Just a deal, Zim," Debbie answered him. Dib narrowed his eyes at Debbie's image, as he figured she had gotten pictures of Zim. "I won't send any of the pictures I just took of you to any government officials or TV shows, as long as you do what I say," Debbie started. 

"Go on," Zim told her. 

"You are to stay away from Dib, at all times, unless you are forced to work on something together for skool, only during skool," Debbie ordered him.

"Why should I stay away from him? He's my friend!" Zim shouted at her. Dib was dying to throw a punch at her, how _dare_ she do that to his Zim! 

"Because _I_ don't want you near him," Debbie answered. "And are you really his friend, Zim, or is it all an act?" Debbie asked him. Zim opened his mouth to reply, but she cut him off. "Don't answer that, Zim, it'll probably be a lie, anyway." Dib watched Zim glare at her.

"What if I try to get those pictures back?" Zim asked.

"The deal would be off, alien," Debbie answered.

"What if I don't want to be apart of the deal?" Zim continued.

"Then say good bye to your sorry hide, Zim," was all Debbie had to say to make her point.

Zim looked down at the ground and thought about it. Or, at least he acted like he thought about it. He already knew he was going to take her up on the deal, but he asked all the questions she was probably expecting him to ask. "Fine, Debbie, it's a deal," Zim told her finally as he walked up to her in order to shake her hand. Debbie had then just realized how short Zim really was,

"Good choice, Zim. And remember, one wrong move, and say good bye to your secret identity," Debbie said. She turned around and walked out of his house. Zim watched her leave before turning on the screen part to his communicator. 

"Did you get all of that, Dib?" Zim asked.

"No, I've only been sitting here and not paying attention to what was going on. Of course I got all of that! But why didn't you ask her about talking to me through phones and emails?" Dib asked.

"I didn't ask her because it would have made her suspicious. Are you willing to help me get those pictures back?" Zim asked him, getting right down to business. 

"Zim, you know I can't let her get away with it! I don't want the one person who ever truly cared for me cut up on an autopsy table," Dib assured him. "I care too much for you to let her get away with it," Dib added.

"Don't get all sappy on me now, Dib, though I feel the same way about you. Just try and get those pictures for me, or help me find out where she's going to hide them," Zim ordered.

"Of course, Zim. I'll keep as good as an eye on those pictures I can possibly keep," Dib reassured him.

"Good. Thank you so much, Dib, I really owe you for this," Zim said.

"Don't worry about it. Look, I have to go, Debbie just pulled up in her car, bye," Dib stated as he kept an eye on Debbie.

"See ya Dib, and good luck," Zim wished.

"Yeah, we'll need it," Dib said before turning off the communicator. 

Arm: Oh, come on, you knew that Debbie was going to be the next human to be chasing after Zim. You guys just had to know.

Leg: Yeah… And why aren't you reviewing? _. I know I shouldn't be judging our works by our reviews, but we're so close the 50th review line, and this will end up being our first fic to do so. 

Arm: Yeah. So, if you guys are feeling nice enough to tell us what you think of this fic, please tell us? Even if you absolutely hate it and you make your review a flame. We miss getting flames. No, seriously, we hadn't had a flame in months. 


	12. Tracking the Disk: Part One

BtR

Arm: Chapter twelve has finally arrived! Woo! That means we're back from Ohio! And we have our computer back! ::hugs her computer::

Leg: Sometimes I worry about you, you know. 

Arm: Aw, it's nice to know you care. I'm in a good mood, but I don't know about this fic… Sorry, lame joke. Go ahead and read it.

Betraying the Rivalry: Chapter Twelve: Tracking the Disk: Part One

Debbie smiled happily to herself. Zim was very easy to get pictures of. She was expecting him to put up much more of a fight as well. She laughed to herself as she walked inside her new home. Oh, was victory sweet. She had Zim in the palm of her hand. He couldn't do a thing to her if he didn't want his true identity revealed.

"Hello, Debbie. Were you able to fix whatever happened at your lab?" Membrane asked her as she kissed him on the forehead.

"Oh, of course, honey. Where's Dib?" Debbie asked as she placed the disk in her purse. 

"Upstairs in his room, as usual," Membrane answered. "Why do you want to know?" he asked as he looked up at her from his work.

"I need to talk to him," Debbie said with a wry smile. She kissed Membrane again before heading for Dib's room. She knocked on the door and waited for Dib to answer it. Dib finally answered the door, and he narrowed his eyes at Debbie when he saw her.

"What do you want?" he asked as he walked out of his room and shut the door behind him. 

"I just wanted to tell you that I was just at Zim's. I got pictures of him without wearing his disguise. I made a deal with him," Debbie stated.

"What kind of deal?" Dib asked, acting as if he didn't know what she was talking about. 

"I can't tell you, it's strictly between Zim and I," Debbie told him. "And as long as Zim sticks to the deal, I won't show the pictures to the world," Debbie continued as she pulled out a disk much like the one Dib used to store his pictures of Zim. Dib just studied it and made sure he knew what if looked like when he went to go searching for it. 

"Aren't you going to try and get it out of my hands?" Debbie asked him. She watched as Dib glanced up at her.

"No, because you have your height on your side. I'm no fool, Debbie," Dib stated.

"I guess you are smarter than I thought," Debbie said in disbelief. "But don't you want to protect your friend?" Debbie asked. 

"Of course I do," Dib answered. "But I know that Zim can take care of himself," Dib said. It wasn't a lie, at least, but Dib wanted to get those pictures back for Zim. 

"We'll continue this conversation later, I have to go make dinner," Debbie told him as she walked away, giggling madly to herself. She held the disk in her hand as she walked away. Dib decided to take a chance at getting it back, and grabbed at the disk. He was so close to it, but then Debbie moved her arm up and Dib fell flat on his face. "Don't try that again, Dib," Debbie ordered as she continued walking.

"Damnit," Dib whispered to himself. "I'll get those pictures, Debbie, if it's the last thing I do," Dib promised as he walked back into his room.

Dib just continued smiling. She knew what Dib said, but she knew that he would never get the pictures, not after she hid them in her lab, in her secret place.

Dib walked back into his room and dusted himself off. He should have been focused on following Debbie instead of getting the pictures back. He closed his door and continued soundproofing his room as he watched Debbie through his security cameras he had put up when he and Zim were still trying to kill each other. He watched her place the disk on the table and almost went downstairs to swipe them when she wasn't looking, but he knew it wasn't going to work.

Dib then got an idea. He should place a small transmitter on Debbie so that he could track her every move, even when she was out of the house and in her lab, wherever that was. Maybe if he found a way to place one on the disk instead, he could get it from her whenever she placed it and left it there.

"Yeah, that'll work…" Dib muttered to himself as he continued working.

At his house, Zim was already tracking the disk. He had placed a transmitter on Debbie's hand when they made their deal, and the transmitter rubbed off her hand and onto the disk, just like he had hoped it would. He wanted to call Dib and tell him this, but he wasn't sure if it was safe. He didn't want Debbie to know he was going against his word already.

Zim summoned for Gir. Gir was going to be his back-up plan, if the transmitter were to malfunction in anyway. "Gir, I want you to follow this _filthy_ human around for a while, got it? Just make sure to tell me if she were to leave Dib's house, whenever she does," Zim ordered as he pointed to a picture of Debbie. 

"Yes, my Master!" Gir said as he put on his doggy costume. He saluted Zim before leaving to go see if that human would leave her home.

Zim made a small plea to his god that Gir would do his job, for once. He went over to his computer and sent Dib an email. He noticed that Jazz had sent him an email, but he didn't pay any attention to it as he went over to his other screen on his computer. 

"Computer, I want you to search for transmitter 004 and its location," Zim ordered.

"Processing…PROCESSING!" the computer shouted before spitting out a paper.

Zim thanked the computer and looked over the paper. "So, she's still at Dib's house. She shouldn't be there much longer, she has to go to her lab sooner or later," Zim thought out loud to himself.

He considered using his Micro-Ship again, but he remembered it was still being repaired from the last time he had used it. He could have gotten the information as to where Debbie was going to hide the disk that way, but he figured this way would have to do for now.

Dib paused. He thought he had heard his computer blip. He got up from soundproofing his room and headed over to his computer. The email he had received was from Zim.

"What does he have to say now?" Dib asked himself as he opened the email. He read it and took in everything Zim had to say. 

"So, Zim already put a transmitter on the disk. No problem. He even gave me the frequency it gave off. Man, he really thought ahead," Dib whispered to himself.

"Dib, you moron, dinner's ready!" Gaz shouted at him as she opened his door to yell at him.

"I'll be down in a minute," Dib snapped at her as she shut his door. Dib got up out of his seat after he deleted the email. He locked his door from the outside so that Debbie couldn't go sneaking in it while he ate.

Dib sat down in his usual spot at the table. He avoided conversation at all costs; he didn't feel like talking to Debbie. He eyed the disk that she was still carrying around, as if she had just won it as a prize, and couldn't see the transmitter, so he figured that Zim had used a microscopic one. He ate quietly, hoping that Debbie wouldn't speak to him.

"So, Dib, how's that project you were working on with Zim?" Membrane asked.

"It's going pretty well. We plan to finish it tomorrow," Dib replied quickly.

"Oh, but Dib, I wanted to have a family outing tomorrow," Debbie said in her best fake voice.

"'Family outing'? Nobody warned me about a family outing," Dib said. He knew he had to keep his act up.

Debbie walked behind him and whispered: "You can't go to Zim's anyway, if you don't want his true identity known to the world."

Dib tried not to glare at her as he finished his dinner. He wanted to get away from Debbie, and fast. He didn't want to hear all this from her, he already knew about it. 

Excusing himself from the table, Dib went back upstairs to his room the second he finished eating and continued soundproofing his room. He walked up the stairs slowly, so that it would seem that he was in a rush to get away from them. He installed the frequency into his computer and worked on his room. Now he could track the disk with Zim, and not feel as if he wasn't doing anything to help.

It was later that same day. Gir was sleeping soundly in the bushes next to Dib's house, Zim was nodding off at his computer, but Dib remained strong and was wide-awake. Dib had been watching the frequency on his computer screen for hours, after he had finished with soundproofing his room. It was only one in the morning, but Debbie just _never_ stopped moving the disk. 

Dib was getting tired of Debbie moving the damned disk all over her lab. Why couldn't she just place the disk somewhere? He knew that she thought that he was only after the disk because of the part of the deal she had made with Zim. He was just about to call it a night when the transmitter stopped moving.

Dib held his breath. He was afraid that Debbie was going to move the disk again, like she had done the last five hundred times. He watched the computer screen apprehensively for the next fifteen minutes and the disk did not move. He jotted down the coordinates of the disk, just in case she moved the disk again while he was sleeping. 

Dib picked up his communicator and turned it on, hoping that Zim still had his on. He smiled when he heard Zim's voice come in through the earpiece.

"Yes, Dib?" Zim asked, holding in a yawn.

"Zim, are you paying attention to the transmitter? It finally stopped moving," Dib told him.

"It has?" Zim asked as he flipped through the stations on his computer to find it. "So it has," he replied to himself as he smiled. "Dib, we're going to get that disk back tomorrow," Zim ordered, now wide-awake.

"I can't, Zim. Debbie planned the family outing behind my back," Dib stated with an air of sadness.

"Damn, I really wanted to see you tomorrow," Zim muttered.

Dib smiled at that. "Yeah, I know. I wanted to see you too…. Look, Zim, we should both get some sleep. G'night, Zim," Dib said as he yawned.

"Night, Dib, have sweet dreams," Zim said as he turned off his communicator. These next few days were going to be a living nightmare, so they really deserved those dreams. 

Arm: I have no comments to say at the end of this. How…strange.

Leg: Me neither. Oh well. Please read and review, it would make us so happy! 


	13. Tracking the Disk: Part Two

BtR

Arm: Chapter 13! Yeah, and we're taking a little…uh…break from ASToF for a while….

Leg: Writer's block sucks…. I would say more after sucks but I don't think Arm would allow me to... That and we finally have an ending for this… Yes, BtR is coming to an end…not in this chapter, but in chapter 15… 

Arm: ::hugs her notebook:: I don't want it to come to an end…. Oh, and Leg and I make an appearances. And for you who really hate slash…these next few chapters aren't going to be your bestfriends. 

Betraying the Rivalry: Chapter 13: Tracking the Disk: Part 2

Zim was at his computer the next afternoon, simply bored out of his mind for lack of things to do. He was trying to make a path to the disk on his computer, but it just wasn't working for him. He knew he was going to have to get out of his house and make one by walking to Debbie's lab, but he just didn't want to go outside now. The only thing would be that he wouldn't know if Debbie were to be in her lab when he and Dib went to get the disk back.

He was planning to get the disk back the next day, when Debbie thought that he and Dib were in skool. He's skipped skool plenty of times before, and he knew that Dib wouldn't mind skipping it either, Ms. Bitters had been working the students hard since Winter Break was almost upon them, whatever that was. Dib had tried to explain it to him early, but Zim wasn't paying too much attention when he had done so.

He got up from his computer and grabbed his other human disguise. He was going to create a path on foot instead of on the computer. So much as for not going outside, it seemed. Zim told Gir he was going out and that he would be back.

Dib sighed yet again. A family outing with two parents that were scientists was always the same: science museum after science museum. Usually he didn't mind going to the museum, but today he just wanted to be at Zim's. He stayed as far away from Debbie and Membrane as he could. He was going to ditch this whole thing pretty soon anyway. Hell, why not change that to right now.

"Hey, dad, I hafta go to the bathroom," Dib stated as he made that face we all get when we _really_ have to go. Dib must had been practicing that look, it was really hard to get it right when you didn't have to go. 

Debbie looked over at him, studying his facial expression. "Go ahead and go, Dib," Membrane replied before Debbie could say anything. Dib thanked his father before running off in the general direction of the bathroom. All the while, Debbie suspected that Dib was going to run out of the museum and go over to Zim's house. She narrowed her eyes. If he wanted to play it that way, he could, but if he's caught over that stupid alien's house, she _will_ show those pictures to the world.

Debbie began to giggle madly to herself at that thought. The giggle then developed into a maniacal laughter, to the point where people were staring at her. Debbie stopped abruptly and lushed as she walked up to Membrane. She decided to worry about Dib later, Gaz had already left anyway. Besides, this was her chance to finally get a moment alone with Membrane.

Dib had stopped running the second he had turn the corner. He headed for the exit as fast as he could, he really wanted to get to Zim's house. Dib walked out and umped into someone.

"Watch where you're going, stupid inferior hu--Dib?" Zim asked in mid-shriek. He wasn't expecting to run into Dib as he walked to Debbie's lab. 

"Zim?" Dib asked the person he had ran into. Zim wasn't wearing his usual disguise. Instead, he was wearing a brown trench coat, a beard, and a hat with a flower on it. "What the hell are you _wearing_?" Dib asked.

"It's my other disguise," Zim answered in a low voice. "Want to come with me? I'm trying to find a way to _Debbie's_ lab," Zim told him. "Hey, where is she and your family anyway?" Zim asked as he looked around, afraid of seeing Debbie.

"I ditched them. Besides, I think Debbie wanted to be alone with my father," Dib explained. "And sure, I'll help you. That was why I ditched them."

Zim paused to take off his trench coat, beard, and hat when no one was looking and placed them in his "backpack." "They'll have to stay there for now until I get back to my base," Zim said to himself. 

"I wish you didn't have to wear the contacts and wig, you look better without them," Dib stated. He took Zim's hand into his own, causing Zim to lush just slightly. (Arm: Aw, he's still shy about the hand holding. ^_^) Dib noticed it and smiled at him. "So, are we close to her lab?" he asked.

"I can't tell, actually. I've seemingly gotten closer to the disk, but I still have no idea where Debbie's lab is located," Zim stated as he and Dib began walking down the street. 

"I'm starting to get hungry…. Want to go to MacMeaties?" Dib asked. He didn't eat breakfast because Debbie "forgot" to make breakfast for him. 

"You know I don't eat human food, Dib," Zim stated. "But if you're really that hungry, I'll go with you," Zim added.

They walked down the street, proudly holding hands. Dib tried to ignore some of the stares they were receiving, but it got kind of hard to do when fifteen people stared at them at once. Zim simply didn't care, Dib was holding his hand, and that was all he needed to know. Then suddenly, a girl with light, curly purple hair stopped walking completely when she saw them.

"Um, hi. I'm kinda lost…. You see, I'm new to the area, and I'm supposed to meet some one at a place called MacMeaties, and I need directions on how to get there. Can you help me?" the girl asked. She didn't seem to care that our two heroes were holding hands.

"Sure, that's where we're going anyway," Dib replied. Zim glanced at him and him questionably, but he thought that it was okay.

"Oh, you are? Cool! My name's Alicia. I'm supposed to meet my friend Lita there. She claimed she had something important about our fanfic for one of our favorite shows to tell me about. She couldn't tell me over the phone, as usual," Alicia stated. She felt very talkative, and meeting these two on the streets made her less nervous about being alone.

"Fanfic? Is that like some kind of story?" Dib asked her. 

"Yeah, basically. Lita and I usually work on stuff together," Alicia answered. She finally noticed that Zim and Dib were holding hands. "Hey, I hope you don't mind my asking, but are you two going out?" Alicia asked. 

The two of them blushed, but Dib answered, "Yes," without hesitation. Zim felt himself even more after that.

"Aw! How cute!" Alicia exclaimed as they rounded the corner.

"There you are, Alicia! Did you get lost again?" another girl with raven black hair asked as she walked up to Alicia.

"Duh, Lita, you know I don't know my way around. Luckily, I ran into these two and they helped me get here," Alicia answered. "I'll see ya around, Dib, Zim," Alicia said as she walked off with Lita into a separate area of MacMeaties.

Zim held in the question he wanted to ask Alicia as he and Dib walked up and made their order. He checked his monitor to see where the location of the disk was now once Dib sat down with his food. Zim's eyes got wide in shock as he looked at it; they were _sitting_ on top of the transmitter.

"What is it, Zim?" Dib asked. Zim handed him the monitor automatically, a smile forming on his face. "No way…. Debbie his the disk under _here_?" Dib asked out loud.

"It seems like she did, anyway. Now, all we have to do is find an entrance," Zim said as Dib took a bite out of his burger.

Dib looked around Zim and out of one of the windows of MacMeaties. He saw a scientific looking building right next to it. "Look behind you, Zim," Dib said once he finished his bite of the burger. "That's her lab, I'll bet," Dib continued as Zim looked behind him.

"It figures…. Dib, do you want to help me get the disk back once you're done eating, or should we wait until tomorrow?" Zim asked.

"Tomorrow," Dib said once he finished another bite. "Besides, Debbie and my father are probably wondering where I am right now, and if I happen not to be home when they got there, Debbie will suspect I'm with you, and she might show the pictures to the world," Dib explained.

"Yeah, I know…. Tomorrow during skool?" Zim asked.

"Of course! Anything to get away from Ms. Bitters," Dib exclaimed. The two of them got up from their booth, threw out Dib's trash, and walked out of MacMeaties. "Do you mind if I walk you home, Zim?" Dib asked. 

"Not at all, if you're not going out of your way," Zim answered as they began walking down the street. They held hands as they talked about simple, not really important things. It was like they didn't want to think about getting the disk back until tomorrow. 

Once they made it to Zim's house, the two of them had no idea how they were supposed to say good-bye. Well, they both had an _idea_, but they were both too shy to make the first move. Zim figured he might as well get it over with, so he leaned in and gently kissed Dib. The kiss didn't last unbelievably long, like most movie kisses, but it was short and sweet. 

"I'll see you later, Zim," Dib said once they stopped. 

"Bye, Dib," Zim said as he waved to Dib. He sighed happily as he walked into the house, and bumped into Gir. "Oh, hello Gir," Zim said happily.

"I saw that Master," Gir said in-between giggles. "You kissed Dib! Master and Dib, sittin' in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love, then comes… Uh, Master, do you know what comes next?" Gir asked as he stopped singing the song.

"I wouldn't know, Gir. Now, I'll be in my lab, Gir, do not disturb me," Zim ordered through his blush. How did Gir learn all these things while he was away? 

"'Kay!" Gir replied in glee as he ran over to the couch to watch the Scary Monkey Show.

Dib entered his house, relieved to see that it was empty and that he was alone. He walked upstairs to his room, and plopped onto his bed happily. He touched his lips briefly before deciding to get ready for tomorrow while he was still alone. 

Dib grabbed a few things he knew he would use. He didn't know if Debbie had booby-trapped her lab, but it was likely that she did. He hoped that getting the disk back wasn't going to be more trouble than he expected it to be. The last thing he needed now was to make too many mistakes while getting it back. 

He saw the door open from one of his cameras, and watched as Debbie and Membrane walked inside the house with Gaz. Dib made a silent threat to Debbie before continuing the rest of his work. Tomorrow he and Zim were going to get the disk back, no matter what the consequences. 

Arm: Hey, I just noticed, Leg only had one line…

Leg: I wonder why that is. ::rolls her eyes:: Oh well…. Beware the next chapter! We'll actually put a contest related to an event in it… Well, we'll get the next one up when Arm decides to get up and type it. Well, what are you waiting for! Review, please? 


	14. Surrender?

BtR

Arm: ::sigh:: Since ff.net was down for so long, we decided to work on this….

Leg: Yeah, we were going to take a week to get ready and do the research Arm wanted to do for this chapter…. Chapter 14, the next one is the last one…. ::sigh:: I really don't want this to end….

Arm: Since I got the research done early, and now that I have to rewrite part of the chapter, you're getting it early. There is a contest that all of you can take part in if you read this chapter, more details as to what it is at the end of the fic….

Betraying the Rivalry: Chapter 14: Surrender?

Zim got up the next morning, put on his disguise, and waited for when he would usually leave for skool. Gir walked around the lab, wondering where his new friend, a black ant, had gone. Zim watched Gir with a small smile on his face. Gir was really okay, when he didn't get in Zim's way.

Zim sighed as he went back to gathering the things he would need for getting the pictures back. He was almost set for this, he just hoped that Dib was ready for it. He hoped that whatever happened, he and Dib would make it out of Debbie's lab alive. 

Zim filled his "bookbag" with most of his tools he figured he was going to need. He said good bye to Gir, and somewhere in the back of his mind, he hoped that this wouldn't be the last time he ever saw Gir. 

He walked out of his house and headed in the general direction of the skool. The plan was to meet up with Dib, and act like Dib wasn't there, in case Debbie was watching them. Dib would act all hurt and walk to skool without talking to him at all, while Zim would try not to say he was sorry.

Zim hoped that he could do it. Irkens weren't really good actors, and he also hoped Dib wouldn't forget what he had to do. They really had to act, especially because Zim knew that Debbie was following him. He could tell because she wasn't being too quiet as she jumped from bush to bush.

Dib saw Zim, and gulped when he saw Debbie hiding in the bushes behind him. "Hey, Zim!" Dib shouted as he ran up to his boyfriend. (Arm: Damn, I can't write friend no _more_!)

Zim just glared at him like he was supposed to.

"What? What did I do?" Dib asked, looking confused. Debbie was watching every minute of this, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Zim looked like as he was dying to explain everything to Dib, and Dib looked hurt.

"Nothing, now leave me alone," Zim managed to say in a hateful sounding voice. 

"Why should I?" Dib asked just like he was supposed to.

"Oh, this is rich!" Debbie muttered loudly to herself as she watched.

"I said leave me alone, Dib," Zim repeated as he tried not to look behind him and glare at Debbie.

Dib looked at him, his facial expression showing that he was mad, but his eyes gave away that he was really sad and confused. "Fine, _Zim_! See if I ever talk to you again," Dib told him, his voice getting slightly high pitched.

Debbie was enjoying herself fully when Dib turned from Zim and walked away from him. Zim had hurt Dib more than she would ever be able to. She got up from her spot in the bushes and walked over to Zim. "I have to hand it to you, Zim, I didn't think you'd be able to do that to Dib," she told him. 

Zim's shoulder's tensed before he turned to face her. "Leave me alone, human," he said in his most hateful voice. "I don't want to hear it," Zim said as he turned back around and walked away from her.

Debbie smiled to herself and headed for work. She knew she wouldn't have to worry about the disk. Neither Zim nor Dib wanted her to show those pictures to the world. Besides, she knew that Zim wouldn't try to do anything today, he had to attend skool. 

Zim sighed when he knew that Debbie was gone. Part one of the plan went very well. He walked up to the skool, and headed over towards Dib.

"Dib she believe our act?" Dib asked in a whisper, still unsure in Debbie was still following Zim or not. 

"Yes. She walked off after she spoke to me. Are you ready to ditch this place?" Zim asked.

"Duh! I was born ready," Dib told him. "I brought a few of my inventions. I figured they might help us when we break into Debbie's lab," Dib stated, motioning to his bookbag.

"I brought a few of mine as well. Now, c'mon!" Zim said as he grabbed Dib's arm and dragged him to the back of the skool. He ducked behind a bush with Dib following him when he saw Debbie. They waited for Debbie to be out of sight before they ran off the skool grounds and headed for Debbie's lab.

"I sure hope that Debbie isn't headed for her lab," Dib mumbled to Zim. Zim just nodded his head as they walked towards MacMeaties.

They made it to MacMeaties within a few minutes. Dib kept looking behind him. He felt as if someone was following them, but every time he looked behind him, he didn't see anyone. He turned back around and looked at Zim. Zim looked like he wasn't worried at all.

Zim was worried, however. He wondered if he should have let Dib help him in this. He appreciated Dib's willingness to help, but he didn't want him to get hurt. Zim felt someone grab his hand and he looked over at Dib.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Zim asked again as he located a way to enter Debbie's lab. He knelt down and began to take off the covering to the air vent. 

Dib knelt down next to him and made Zim look at him before kissing him. "Of course, Zim, I'm positive that I want to help you. I want to make sure that you're by my side for the rest of my life. I don't want to see you on the weeknight news one day, getting chopped up on an autopsy table," Dib told him.

"You used to want that," Zim said with a small smile.

"Smartass," Dib muttered as he lightly punched Zim on the shoulder. Zim just gave him a big grin and continued working. Zim finished in a few seconds and he let Dib get in the air vent first. He made a silent plea of hope tat everything would go as planned as he crawled in after Dib.

Dib opened up the first air vent that lead to an empty hallway. He jumped down on the ground, and waited for Zim to appear next to him. He studied the hallway. It looked like a straight run from where they were to the end of it, but Dib suspected that it wasn't that easy.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Zim asked before taking a step forward. Dib grabbed him back when he saw a bunch of swinging blades come down from the ceiling of the hallway. 

"You all right, Zim?" Dib asked once Zim looked like he could talk.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but that just scared the hell out of me," Zim replied. 

"Do you have anything I could throw through the hallway that you don't really need?" Dib asked. Zim handed him something he didn't recognize. "I take that as a yes," Dib stated. He threw the object all the way across the hallway, and more blades swung down from the ceiling. "Now Zim, I want you to do what I do," Dib said suddenly as he jumped on the base of one swinging blade. He continued jumping from blade to blade, with Zim following him hesitantly. Dib jumped onto the ground when there was no more blades, just barely missing the spikes that came up from the ground. Zim watched him and copied the move, landing into Dib's arms.

"Why, hello Zim," Dib said as he held tight onto Zim.

"You can put me down now," Zim told him. "And how did you know about all that?" Zim asked once he was back on the ground and looked behind him at the blades. They walked into another hall, one with brightly colored tiles.

"I saw this in a movie once," Dib answered. He saw that Zim was about to walk across the colored tiles. "I wouldn't do that just yet, Zim," he stated.

"Why? It's not like I'm going to get hurt or anyth—Gah!" Zim shouted as he stepped onto a blue tile, causing fire to come up from the hole in all the blue tiles, and backed up into Dib before he could get burned.

"I told you not to do that," Dib whispered. "We can step on all the blue tiles now, I think, just don't walk on the other ones yet," Dib said as he took a hesitant step on the same tile Zim had walked on. The blue tiles were big enough for both of them to step on, so Zim walked on it next to him. They jumped from blue tile to blue tile until the reached a dark corridor.

"Okay, Dib, so what's next?" Zim asked.

"Debbie definitely copied off the movie, so the easiest part is next," Dib said as he looked around in his bookbag for something. "Do you have anything like a laser beam sword or something? I left mine at home," Dib told him when he looked up.

Zim fished around for one. "Yeah, I do," Zim said as he took it out and turned it on. "What do you need it for?" Zim asked as Dib took it out of his hands.

"Just follow me Zim, and when I say run, you run," Dib ordered. They walked farther into the dark corridor, and Dib eyed the hourglass that was hanging over the door. He looked up and saw that the roof was starting to close down on them. "Run!" Dib shouted as he sliced at the hourglass when they were close enough, and the roof stopped closing down on them the second the hourglass was broken. Dib turned off the laser and put it in his pocket. 

The two off them walked down the hall once they got out of that room. "So, Dib, are you sure there isn't anything else?" Zim asked as he walked a bit ahead.

"Positive. There are no more rooms that I can remember from the movie that she could have copied, and Debbie doesn't know we're her—" The floor fell from under Dib, and went back to normal.

Zim turned around, trying to find where Dib could have possibly gone. "Dib? Dib! Where are you?" Zim asked. Zim was thrown off his feet as a screen came up from underneath him. The screen had nothing but snow on it, but then Debbie's face suddenly appeared on it. Zim narrowed his eyes at her.

"So, we meet again, Zim. You've been a bad, bad alien," Debbie said as she waved a finger at the screen.

"What did you do to Dib?" Zim asked loathingly as he scrambled to his feet. 

"Absolutely nothing. My future step-son is fine, it's what _you_ did to _him_ that I want to know," Debbie stated. 

"I didn't touch him in anyway," Zim answered her.

"I saw the two of you kiss. What kind of sick mind-control do you have him under?" Debbie asked angrily.

"He doesn't have me under mind-control, Debbie. I enjoyed that kiss as much as the other ones," Dib said from somewhere off the screen. He sounded as if he had had the wind knocked out of him.

"You what?!" Debbie asked in shock as she turned to Dib.

"Dib! Dib, are you all right?" Zim nearly shouted at the screen. He watched helplessly as Debbie walked off the screen, and the sound of a foot meeting someone's stomach was heard.

"_That's _for admitting you kissed that disgusting being. _This_," there was a pause and a CRACK! of a broken nose, "is for speaking up and helping him get in my lab in the first place," Debbie said. She walked back onto the screen.

"Damn you, Debbie!" Dib managed to shout at her.

Zim was really worried now, but he didn't want his worry to be evident to Debbie. He was too pissed at her for hurting _his_ Dib. He narrowed his eyes at her. "What did you do to _my_ Dib?" he asked.

"_Your_ Dib? What makes him _your_ Dib? He's _my_ step-son," Debbie told him.

"So? He's _my_ boyfriend," Zim told her. He watched the look of revulsion on her face, and the shock, but he saw her hate for him the most in her eyes.

Debbie pushed a button that Zim could not see on the screen. She watched the robotic arms coming up from behind Zim. "He'll be fine, but I don't know about you," Debbie stated. 

"Zim, get (pant) out of there! She's just (cough) distracting you! Don't worry about me (cough, cough)," Dib ordered as he made it onto the screen. Debbie instantly kicked him in the gut.

"Dib! What did you do that for?!" Zim asked Debbie the second she faced him again.

"Come on, space scum, try getting your precious Dib back, if you really care about him like you say you do," Dib taunted. 

"What are you going to do to him while I'm trying to get to you?" Zim asked as the robotic arms inched closer.

Debbie feigned thinking, and then answered, "Oh, nothing too painful."

Dib goes into a chain of coughs as he tried to tell Zim to get out of there. He tenses for another kick when Debbie turned to him. Zim couldn't stand it anymore.

"Wait! Don't hurt him! I…I surrender," Zim said in desperation. He looked down at the ground and hoped that he did the right thing.

Arm: Muhahahahahahahaha! Our cliffhangers have returned! 

Leg: Arm, you have too much fun with keeping people on the edge, you know… People are going to kill you for that.

Arm: So? Now onto the contest. I have two questions. What movie did I take the booby-traps for Debbie's lab? And what was the set of traps called in the movie?

Leg: The first person to get both of those questions right gets a fic from us. ^_^ They can pick the genre, the couple, and even the plot if they really want to.

Arm: The second person to get them right also gets a fic from us, they can choose the couple, but we have everything else to ourselves.

Leg: If you don't leave your email for us to contact you with, and you get the questions right, and you happen to be one of the first two to get them right… Well, it sucks to be you. K? Let the contest begin! Oh, and don't forget to review?


	15. The War Has Finally Ended

BtR

Arm: Chapter 15…. The last chapter to BtR… 

Leg: ^_^ It's relatively short too… Arm and I simply suck at endings. At least, when it comes to the last chapter of a series we started and actually finished. It's always been a problem for us. 

Arm: Yeah… You all know we don't own IZ, but, hey, some of you might be demented to think so…Oh and as for the contest, we're still waiting for someone to win second prize! The first prize has been taken by The Jade Dragon Empress…who read the fic when we sent it to her, and she guessed the answers correctly.

Leg: The questions are still in chapter 14, if you wanna take a stab at it! 

Betraying the Rivalry: Chapter 15: The War Has Finally Ended (Leg: Dramatic title, no?)

"No! Zim! You can't (cough) give up!" Dib shouted in anguish. He couldn't believe it. Zim, surrender? This couldn't be happening! He heard Debbie laugh triumphantly and he turned to look at the screen from where he was.

"I'm glad you see things my way, Zim," Debbie stated. The robotic arms were only two feet behind Zim, close enough to grab him. "Thing is, it's too late for surrender!" Debbie shouted suddenly as the robotic arms encircled Dib and captured him. 

Dib watched the scene unfold in front of him with wide eyes. He watched as Zim struggled against his metal-captures. "Zim! NO!" he shouted. Dib managed to find the energy to get up. 

"So, still on your feet, huh? Well, not for lo—" Debbie was cut short as Dib ran up to her and managed to punch her nose, breaking it.

"That was for manipulating my father," Dib explained, mocking Debbie's tone of voice when she had beat him up previously. He punched her in the gut while she was still holding onto her nose. "That was for hurting me," he continued. Dib pulled out a weapon from his bookbag, the same laser beam Zim had handed him.

Debbie looked up at him through her now swelling eyes. She eyed the weapon and merely laughed. "You think that a simple toy could kill me?" she asked cockily, arching an eyebrow.

"It's not even on yet," was all Dib said as he pushed the button. The beam was bright blue. He placed it at the base of Debbie's neck. "Tell me where the disk is, and release Zim," he ordered.

"What makes you think that I feel threatened by your toy?" Debbie asked. The laser moved closer to her throat. She flinched just slightly. 

"Tell me where the disk is Debbie, and release Zim…" Dib demanded again in an even deadlier tone. He didn't notice Debbie's hand was searching for something, anything to use against him. He didn't care though, and if he did, you couldn't tell.

"It's over there, on the counter," she replied finally. She didn't like the feeling she was getting from Dib. She watched him turn off the laser and turn away from her, waiting for the right moment to attack him.

"Where, Debbie?" Dib asked in annoyance. "I don't see it," he continued as he searched for it.

"Oh, it's over there, just keep looking," Debbie told him as she found her gun. She turned off the safety and aimed for Dib's head. 

"Dib! Look out!" Zim shouted from the other side of the screen.

"Huh?" Dib asked. The next thing he new was the sound of a gun being fired. Instinctively, Dib ducked down, and grabbed the nearest thing to him on his way down, which happened to be the disk. The bullet just grazed his left ear.

"Fuck!" Debbie shouted when she realized that she missed her target. She turned to a screen in a slight panic. "Computer, bring Zim here to me, now!" she ordered.

Dib put his hand to his ear. He didn't even feel the bullet go through it, but he didn't care. He walked over to Debbie and kicked the gun out of her hands. "Don't you _dare_ try that again," he hissed through his teeth.

Debbie looked down at the twelve-year-old standing before her. How could he do this to her? How could he help _him_? Didn't he understand that Zim was just _using_ him to help him take over the world? She shivered as she looked deep into Dib's eyes, she had seen something she could not describe, and it made her unable to move.

"What's the matter, _Debbie_?" he asked her with hate all but gone from his voice. "Afraid that you've _lost_ to a sixth grader?" Dib continued mockingly. "Release Zim like I told you to, or…" he pulled out his laser and the disk. He turned it on and sliced down the center of the disk. "_That_ will be _you_." 

"You…you've think you won, don't you?" Debbie asked shakily as she stared down at Dib. She quietly ordered the computer to drop Zim, and watched the little green alien walk past her and over to Dib. He grabbed Dib's free hand into his own just to spite her.

"Yes, I think we have," Dib replied as he let go of Zim's hand and walked over to Debbie, his laser still on. "But, we must get rid of you. Zim, any suggestions?" he asked, not turning away from Debbie. He learned not to turn his back to her after she tried to shoot him.

"We'll send her to Irk, as a present from me to the Tallest. I'm sure they'll just love her," Zim said as he walked next to Dib. "Besides, I'll be able to get back at them for banishing me in the first place," Zim continued with a smile.

"Banished?" Debbie asked, confused. That couldn't mean what she thought it did, did it? 

"Yes. It means that I can't invade any planets. I am no longer apart of the Irken Army. Earth is completely safe from an alien invasion," Zim explained to her slowly. He said everything slowly and clearly to mock her.

Debbie looked at him in shock. No. No. This just couldn't be happening to her. She was just NOT being mocked by a little green alien. There was just no way!

"I tried telling you that, remember? But did you listen? Nooo, you had to go make a fool of yourself. You, a full-grown woman, lost to a sixth grader and a little green alien. How does that make you feel Debbie?" Dib asked loathingly. 

Debbie flushed angrily at that, but she refused to do anything. She cursed to herself in every language she knew. She was a disgrace to all mankind! She could have saved the world, but instead she made a fool of herself. A little voice inside of her told her that everything that had happened was her own fault, but she pushed the voice away. That was the last conscious thought she had for a while because soon afterward she was knocked out by an Irken stun gun. 

Zim smiled at Dib, but then realized how badly he was hurt. His face was a complete bloody mess, but Dib didn't seem to care. Dib smiled back at him, relieved that the threat was finally gone from their lives, that he and Zim could possibly live as normally as they possibly could. Zim searched the lab for some kind of aircraft that they could place Debbie in. Once Zim did find it, he asked Dib to help him get Debbie into it, and once that was finished, he wrote a note in Irken, punched in the coordinates for Irk, closed the hatch, and sent her off into space. 

"Good riddance, Debbie," Dib said as he waved the ship good bye. He leaned his head on Zim's shoulder and sighed. "Are you sure sending her to the Tallest was a good idea?" Dib asked quietly.

"I really don't know Dib, but if it gets them back, it sounds good to me," Zim answered. "And thanks for helping me today, I couldn't have done this without your help," Zim stated as he kissed Dib on the cheek. 

"Don't mention it. There was just no way I was going to let her win…. But never surrender like that again…I might lose you next time," Dib stated in an even softer voice.

Zim smiled at that. "You'll never lose me, I can promise you that," he whispered as he guided Dib out of the lab. 

6 months later…(Or what happened to Debbie once she was sent out into space. ^_^) 

Debbie sat in the ship, trying to sleep. She had no idea where she was going, or when she was going to make her destination. She rocked in the chair, briefly wondering how long she had been asleep before she just woke up, a few days or so ago. Suddenly the ship started to shake, and she knew she was going to be landing on some alien planet. 

Debbie promised herself that if she ever survived this, she was going to go back to Earth and kick that little alien's ass. She was going to make him and that stubborn brat Dib suffer greatly for what they had done to her. She pulled out a comic book that had just happened to be in there as well and tried to read it. Debbie knew that reading could help her ignore what was going around her for a little while until the ship was rocked around even more when it landed on the planet.

She could hear hushed voices from outside of the ship. Debbie sat stock still and waited for whoever was outside of her ship to either open it up or leave it alone. Well, the ship was opened, and Debbie was greeted by a tall alien with red eyes. She nearly fainted, and when she saw the other one with purple eyes, she did. Red and Purple just stared at the human being in front of them, not knowing what they should do with her.

"Oh, look, there's a note!" Red said happily as he took it off of the inside of the hatch. "It's from a secret admirer! It's a present to the two of us!" he exclaimed excitedly to Purple, who took the note out of his hands.

"I wonder who sent us it… Oh well. C'mon, let's bring her back to the base!" Purple said excitedly. If only they knew how much of a hindrance the human would be, they wouldn't have been so enthusiastic of getting her for a gift.

Arm: ::smiles:: Well, that's it.

Leg: Yeah. What a story. It's our longest written fic. Well, our longest one that's completed. Some of our unfinished works could be longer. Anyway, can you tell us what you think? 

Arm: Yeah. It would be very appreciated. We like to know what people think when we end a fic… Cuz we suck at endings to begin with… Well. Bye! 


End file.
